Leave Brocko Alone!
by reppad98
Summary: Now a retired matchmaker, Brock thought he could finally focus on his relationship with Lucy. But oh, how wrong he was. Sequel to Leave It To Brocko. Contest, Ikari, LeafGreen, Luck, Poké, Rocket, Wishful, Brock'sHormones, GeekChicShipping a.o.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Thank you very much for clicking on this story! This is the sequel to _Leave It To Brocko_ , so I would suggest reading that one first before starting on this story, otherwise you'll probably be confused.

I hope you enjoy!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 1**

My hand hovered over the green button, ready to push it and call the number displayed on the screen. _Breathe in, breathe out._ Hand was lowered an inch. Eyes closed. Breathed in through my nose, opened my eyes-

Pressed the red button.

The number disappeared from the screen, and my hand went up and hit my forehead with full force.

Coward, coward, _coward_. I shook my head, dragging my hand over my face.

I was going to ask Lucy out. I was. I really, _really_ was. It just… took a while.

This had been the third time I had chickened out. I wasn't proud to admit it, but it was freaking _scary_ to call her.

So, you know, I wasn't going to admit it. I was just going to keep making up excuses to postpone my call with Lucy. Because I was totally going to call Lucy. I just wasn't going to call her _now_. That's a difference.

Before dinner. Yes, that was a good decision. I was going to ask Lucy out before dinnertime. Because I didn't have time now. After all, I still had to call Dawn, and Dawn would undoubtedly have a whole story to tell-

Yes, it was better if I called Dawn first, I reasoned with myself. I'd still have called Lucy before dinner. Yes, that's what I was going to do.

"Hey Dawn!"

"Brock! It's so good to see you again, so much has happened-"

Leaning back into my chair, I pushed my thoughts of Lucy away, and allowed Dawn's waterfall of stories to rush over me.

Or well, that had been my intention. In the end, it appeared that I couldn't hide from my love troubles, for Dawn seemed to be having the exact same problems. Well, maybe not exact, because I doubted that Dawn was trying to gather the courage to ask the most beautiful girl out on a date, but you get what I mean.

It was apparent from the very beginning of our conversation that Dawn had something on her mind, despite several of her attempts to distract both me and her from it. Some of them were very successful – the little Buneary's progress easily caught my attention as a former Breeder, for example – but in the end, I wasn't able to _not_ notice, and Dawn only needed a little push (well, perhaps a bit more) to tell me her troubles.

Well, troubles… It was more like one thing. Or even more specific, one person.

"I'm sure it'll be alright, Dawn," I said when Dawn had told me her tale of woe, and she smiled back at me, though still with a frown of annoyance around her eyes.

"I _knooow_." She rolled her eyes in exasperation, letting out a sigh. "It's just…" She half-threw her hands in the air, listlessly. "I keep giving these hints, saying these things, and he's just like a huge block of ice!" Another gesture with her hands, this time with more force and frustration behind it. "He's completely unresponsive to anything I do- I could walk around naked and he wouldn't care!"

Despite Dawn's fury, I could hear the uncertain undertone in her voice. Because what if Paul's lack of reaction wasn't due to him being oblivious, but because he had simply no interest in her?

"Nope, I'm quitting this thing," Dawn continued talking, her voice lower now. She seemed to be more talking to herself than to me, with her arms crossed and shaking her head like that. "The ball is on his side, I kicked it as hard as I could and if he won't do anything about it he can have it, stupid..." she trailed off, muttering.

"Stay positive, Dawn," I tried to reassure her. "I'm sure everything will work out."

I couldn't give her any empty promises that Paul would indeed notice her, that he would finally do something about it, because, well, I didn't know if he would. But even if the two of them wouldn't work out, even if it wouldn't work out that way, I was still sure that everything would be okay, in the end. Because Dawn was Dawn, and she would get over it and come out stronger.

I had to admit, though, that those two did make a really cute couple. But hey, even _I_ , the most amazing matchmaker ever, couldn't force love.

She looked at me with a mixture of both hope and disbelief, before sighing again. "You're probably right." Dawn appeared to want to say something (probably something that would disregard this topic and would turn the tables, making me the victim of a cross examination) but then she noticed something which caused her eyes to widen.

"Oh no!" She quickly looked at her watch, then back at me. "I'm so sorry, Brock, but I really have to go! Zoey is coming over and I'm going to cook, but I still have to do the groceries and prepare everything, and-"

I was already making a dismissing gesture, and she gave me a grateful grin.

"We'll talk later, I promise," she said, before her eyes narrowed playfully. "Don't think you escaped me, I still want to hear whatever's on your mind later."

I pulled a face, and Dawn smirked momentarily, before quickly waving goodbye. "See you later!"

"Have fun tonight," I said, and then quickly added, "And if you need any tips on the cooking let me know!"

Dawn quickly shot me a smile. "Thanks, Brock. Bye!"

"Bye!" And with that, the screen turned black, and I slowly placed the receiver back. Then I straightened from the slumped position I had been sitting in, feeling something crack, and rolled my shoulders, stretching my arms in the same movement. Ouch, I sure felt that this had been a long conversation.

And that had mostly been caused by Dawn's constant evasions. Whenever the topic had gotten close to Paul, and I had just been about to ask, Dawn quickly and enthusiastically started on something else.

Poor Dawn. I only knew too well what it was like to be in her shoes- well, that wasn't quite true, most women outright rejected me instead of keeping me in doubt. And it was obvious that Paul's lack of a response was eating away at Dawn.

I let out a sigh and rubbed my forehead. Thinking about it wasn't going to help any, as I was unable to help her anyway. I couldn't contact Paul – well, I could, of course, but Dawn hadn't asked for my help and I was not going to meddle in other people's lives anymore. I had done that more than enough, and even I had to admit there was a limit.

No one could force love, after all.

Still, despite my own admittance that it was not going to help anyone, I stayed seated in front of the phone, pondering Dawn's story. They had travelled together for several weeks, and according to Dawn it had gone well, and she had enjoyed it (surprisingly enough, as she put it herself).

They had kept in contact after that, but it was mostly under the guise of keeping father and child in contact with each other, and it was all initiated by Dawn. I wasn't surprised that she had had enough of Paul's passive attitude, and with Bun-Bun growing so fast, she didn't really have a reason to keep in touch anyway.

That was surprising, actually, how fast the Buneary had matured. Buneary were always known for their fast development, but this was extraordinary. In my experience as a Breeder and during my studies as a Pokémon doctor I had never come across anything like this; was this just a coincidence or did having both a maternal and a paternal figure in their life really have positive effects on the development of baby Pokémon? It was a very interesting thought, one I had considered more often and had actually done some literally research on, but there were very little results. It would be a very interesting and revolutionary research to do, and I was seriously-

Seriously getting distracted. I shook my head. It was stupid to consider actually conducting a big experiment like that, I didn't have the means, the money, the time…

But perhaps someone else did… I couldn't help but think about it, despite my own mind throwing sound reasoning at me, arguments to not waste my time on this… And yet, resting my head in my hands, elbows leaning on the table of videophone, I couldn't stop thinking about it, plans and ideas and questions and answers and more questions running around in my head.

I should at least share the idea, I decided after some time. It was not a bad idea, though of course I still needed to work out the details. I couldn't very well call someone with only a half-formed plan, after all. I knew that I probably shouldn't do that _right now_ , but I couldn't help myself, and a few minutes wouldn't do much harm…

After the promised few minutes – though the crick in my neck told me it had probably been a bit longer than that – I pulled myself out of the deep thoughts that had sucked me in, and my eyes refocused on the screen in front of me. I blinked, everything was blurry. It was unusual for inspiration to hit me like that, just dragging me along despite that my reluctance to get further involved.

Mew- My eyes widened when they caught the clock in the corner of the screen. An hour had passed! Had I really been sitting here and doing nothing but staring off in space and thinking about a suitable research method? I shook my head to clear the remaining fuzz. I needed to start on dinner, I still needed to call Lucy, and I really needed to stop thinking about that stupid research which I couldn't do alone and I would need help-

Alright, that was it, I decided. Time to check things off my list. Dinner, Lucy, research- I swallowed. Lucy… I really should… It was almost dinnertime, I really should…

I really should start on dinner before the kids started complaining. Yes. It was Dad's day to take care of the Gym, so I should take my responsibility as well and make some food.

Yes. I nodded to myself, getting up from the chair, my body stiff from sitting in the same position for an extended period of time. I should start on dinner, but… I couldn't focus with all those ideas jumping around in my head.

Well, I considered, lowering myself on the chair again. I could at least ask if he was interested… And if he was, we could talk later in the evening about the details. Yes, I nodded to myself, yes, that was a good idea. That was planning for the future. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes, dinner could wait just a bit longer…

And so I scrolled through my list of contacts, until I found the only one from Veilstone City that I had. The Breeding Center.

* * *

The water was a bit too hot, but I managed, quickly pulling my hands out of the water as soon as I took a dish out, before scrubbing it habitually, and then handing it to Dad for drying.

Surprisingly, Dad was silent, and if I hadn't been so preoccupied with myself and my own thoughts at the moment, I might have asked him why. Now I just enjoyed the quiet while I could, organizing my thoughts about what exactly I was going to say to Reggie.

I actually hadn't been able to reach the breeder yet, no one picking up – probably too busy with the Pokémon, I had called around dinner time, I reasoned.

I gave Dad the last knife, then pulled out the plug and let the water flush away as I went to dry my hands.

Dad turned to me, blinking. "Are we done already?"

"Hm?" I put the towel back, then wiped my hands on my pants out of habit. "Yes, that was it."

"Huh." He smiled distractedly, giving me the now rather moist towel to put on the heating radiator as he turned to put away the knives.

"Brock…" Dad hesitated, a faraway look on his face, still holding the knives. I stopped in my hasty exit of the kitchen – I wanted to call Reggie, and if I stopped to think I would realize- so I didn't and impatiently looked at my father.

He noticed the look on my face and then shook his head. "Never mind." He tried for a smile and waved me away. "Go do whatever you were planning to do."

I hesitated, one moment, then gave him a smile and was off to the video phone room. Whatever that had been, I would deal with it later. With a bit of luck no one else would be making a call… And luck was indeed on my side.

With a content sigh, I sat down in front of the device, feeling the constant rush that had been plaguing me all evening leave me. Another sigh escaped me, this time one out of frustration.

I was such a _coward_. I had, _again_ , found a way to avoid calling Lucy. Because it was past dinnertime, and I still hadn't called her.

Because, _obviously_ , it was now too late to call her. Yes, yes, it was, it was too late, it was past dinnertime so it was too late to call her now. I would just have to call her tomorrow.

Yes, I would do that, I would just call her tomorrow. I nodded to myself-

RING RING, PHONE CALL, PHONE CALL!

-before almost falling off my chair in alarm. I quickly gripped the table to keep my balance, breathing heavily as the familiar ringtone rang loudly in my ears, before quickly pressing the 'accept call' button.

"Pewter City Gym, how may I help you?" I spoke, quickly straightening up and looking as professional as possible as I could after my embarrassing almost fall. Unneeded adrenaline was still racing through my body, and it left my legs feeling shaky.

The screen flickered on, revealing a familiar figure, but not someone I had expected.

"Paul?" I blurted out, before the boy on the other side was even able to say anything. He blinked, seeming to swallow whatever he had been planning to say, and instead only nodded in greeting.

"Uh, hi," I finally said, forcing myself back to the present. Why was Paul, of all people, calling me?

Even as I was posing that question to myself, I already realized the answer, and I quickly hid the smirk that was creeping up my face. Now don't scare him away…

Quickly plastering on a friendly, open smile, I adjusted my position on the chair, leaning the slightest bit forward and expectantly folding my hands together. "How may I help you?"

Paul's expression barely changed, his eyebrows raising perhaps the slightest bit.

"You called," he said.

"I called," I echoed, a question in my voice. What was he getting at? He was calling for advice on Dawn, and I hadn't- "Oh, yes!" My eyes widened in realization. "That's right, I did call. Heh, sorry, almost forgot." I smiled sheepishly.

He was still staring at me expectantly, probably waiting for an explanation as to why I had called, and I quickly caught on and explained, "Ah, I called for Reggie, actually, I wanted to talk with him about a new research project."

Surprisingly enough, as I was speaking, I thought I saw disappointment flit across Paul's face, before it was back to his usual mask.

"Alright," he said, nodding and already getting up. "I will see if he has time."

"No, no," I quickly spoke, acting on instinct. I thought Paul had looked disappointed, and with others I might have disregarded it as my imagination, but with Paul I knew from experience that any emotions would only be shown as small hints and that I would have to latch onto those and pull and pull until I finally had the story.

Paul stopped, his eyebrows now raised noticeably at my almost panicked response, and I forced my next words to sound more relaxed. "No, no, I mean, there's no need… I'll talk to him later." I gave him a hopefully convincing smile.

Slowly, very slowly, Paul lowered himself back on the chair, his face still showing signs of surprise.

"How have you been?" I asked, more jovially than usual. He frowned, and I mentally scolded myself. Act natural, normal, patient…

"I have been well, thank you," he responded, and a moment later, "How have you been?"

"Just great, thank you," I answered, and I was glad to hear that my voice sounded much more normal now. And because I knew Paul wasn't one to talk much himself, I continued, "Not doing much special, really. Taking care of the Gym, studying, keeping in contact with friends…"

Perhaps this was a nice position to try and figure out what… Well, I wasn't sure what exactly I was trying to figure out. But it was just a feeling… Paul had called with the expectation that I had called to speak with him, and when it turned out that I hadn't, he had seemed disappointed…

So didn't that mean that he had something he wanted to talk about?

For a moment, I considered patiently setting up a conversation with subtle hints and careful prodding, but then I recalled that the only proper conversation I had had with Paul had been blunt and to the point.

Perhaps a similar approach was needed again.

And with that, I let the smile slip off my face. Paul's reaction was immediate, his mask hardening and closing himself off even further.

"Paul, let's be totally honest and open here. We both know that you have something you want to say to me. So let's not make this more difficult than it needs to be." With a completely straight face, I looked him in the eyes, and let the implication of what the easy way was hang in the air.

Surprise was now obvious on his face – well, obvious to Paul's standards, anyway – and it took him several moments to gather himself again. Those moments I feared that he would end the call, emotion flashing in his eyes, but then he seemed to stop himself, before letting out an almost unnoticeable sigh of resignation.

His face was still hard, still unreadable, and his eyes searched my face for whatever he was looking for. I stared back as serious as I could.

He blinked, a flash of frustration visible, and then determination hardened his features.

"Could I ask you for advice?" The unexpected question had been spoken without any stutter, and Paul's face didn't betray any emotion. _Mine_ definitely did as I stared at him with the not very flattering expression of wide eyes and a half-open mouth. But, with my exquisite skills, honed from many months of constantly working with hormonally charged teenagers, I fought off my surprise and gave him a gentle smile.

 _Don't scare him off, now. Approach slowly, no sudden movements..._

"Of course. What can I help you with?"

His eyes narrowed a just a bit, his expression tensing up, perhaps wary at my obvious willingness to help while I had been so serious before. I lowered the intensity of my smile a bit, hoping to convey both my sincerity and my seriousness.

Now Paul was hesitant, and it seemed like he wanted to say something multiple times, but always stopping just before he opened his mouth. It was a very… _odd_ experience to see Paul like this.

"If I have interpreted the signs right, Dawn has been hinting that she would like to go on a date with me," he finally said, speaking perhaps a bit faster than normal.

I nodded slowly and thoughtfully, buying myself time. His request was implicit, hidden, and I would need something more concrete to work with. I had to phrase my question carefully, to make this as easy as possible for Paul…

Heh, I sure was happy that it wasn't me who would be in a relationship with someone this reserved – hopefully Dawn would be able to handle Paul. Despite the situation, I almost smiled; if there was anyone who would be able to handle Paul, it was Dawn.

"Do you want advice on how to ask her out?" I asked, slowly. _Don't ask about his feelings, just ask about his actions._ "Or on how to hint that you're not interested?"

This time, Paul's response took a lot less time than before. "The first one."

That answer caused me to feel an unexpected amount of relief, but I was careful not to show it in my expression. Instead, I nodded, humming an answer and patting my chin in thought.

This was good, this was really good. Dawn liked Paul, Paul liked Dawn, and now I had the opportunity to convince Paul to ask her out. I hadn't really expected that fate would practically _hand_ me the answer to Dawn's dilemma just a few hours after her call, but I wasn't about look a gift Ponyta in the mouth.

"Did you…" I started, then hesitated. I needed to get a view of how things had been between them, but I needed to phrase it carefully. "Did you show any hints that you would be interested in that as well?" _Did you flirt with her?_

"I... tried."

I hid a grimace at that response. Since Dawn hadn't noticed, I could only assume that his attempts had ended up in a painful failure. I looked at the screen again, taking in Paul's unresponsive expression, with only the slightest hint of discomfort showing. It confirmed what I already knew from this conversation and previous ones.

He was as charming as a brick.

Perhaps even less. With a brick, you could at least draw a smiley face on it – it sure took a lot more effort to get Paul to smile.

My tapping finger moved further up my face, my hand covering my mouth in an attempt to hide my sigh. This was going to be difficult to work with. With the whole less-charming-than-a-brick thing, it was clear that he had no natural talent when it came to things like this, so a crash-course _dates_ it was.

"Don't scare a girl off, so don't make the date too long or extensive," I started, and Paul's attention now seemed to be fully on me. "Maybe something to drink, a picnic, watching a movie, going out to dinner- but no full days of hiking or things like that. And no Pokémon training." I gave him a look. "Your attention should be on her."

He stared at me, first blankly, then his eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes narrowed. "To do that, I'd first have to _have_ her attention," he pointed out, sharply.

"I'm getting to that, I'm getting to that," I quickly said. _Impatient…_ I shifted in my chair, slightly uncomfortable. This topic pointed painfully to the fact that I still hadn't asked Lucy out. Still, I had asked so many girls, surely I would be able to give him somewhat useful advise?

"Just ask her." As soon as I had spoken the words, I knew that it was not the advice he had been hoping for.

A dark look passed in his eyes, and his tone was somewhat disbelieving as he asked. "That's it?" When I didn't respond, he scoffed, "That's the most useless advice I've ever heard."

Yeah. Yeah, it kind was useless. But...

"It's still true." I shrugged. After all, it was still what it came down to. Just asking, no more, no less. It really wasn't that difficult- somewhere in the back of my mind a voice called me a hypocrite, but I handily ignored it.

"Ask her," I repeated, and because that obviously wasn't the advice he had been expecting, I found myself making up more as I went. "Make it clear that you're asking her on a _date_ , make sure that she can't misunderstand it because that'll only lead to awkward situations and painful emotions." Well, that should be a bit more useful. My own painful experiences were finally finding a good use. "Have something in mind to do, so that when she asks if you have something planned, you'll have an answer."

Paul's frown had lessened, which must mean that some of my words were hitting their mark. But I wasn't done yet, though I sincerely hoped he wouldn't have any use for this particular piece of advice. "If she says no, don't push, just leave and nurse your wounded pride."

I really shouldn't meddle… but this opportunity was just too good to let it go to waste. It was just a push in the right direction...

"Of course there's still the other possibility…" I trailed off, putting on my best thinking face.

"What other possibility?" he pressed on when I didn't continue.

"Well," I said, purposefully talking slow to build up the tension. "Asking a girl out is really the more difficult path, and it's obvious that you're not comfortable with it." At that, Paul's eyes narrowed, and I quickly continued on, "The other possibility is much easier…" I shrugged, quasi disinterested, but actually carefully watching Paul's reaction. "Just hint until _she_ asks _you_ out."

Gotcha. I bit back a smirk at Paul's reaction, emotions quickly flashing over his face at the mere _mention_ of taking the easy way out like that. Offence, determination, and maybe even a bit of hurt male ego- huh, who would have expected that?

Paul never backed down from a challenge, and this was definitely one.

"Thank you for your advice," he bit out the gratitude in a way that suggested he was not at all grateful. I didn't mind – if that was the price to pay for Paul and Dawn to go out, then I would gladly take it. Maybe I shouldn't have taunted him like that, but with Paul it was just incredibly difficult to get my point across.

"No problem," I said, pretending to be oblivious to the sentiment behind his reaction. "And don't forget to let me know how it went, m'kay?" Okay, now I couldn't help but smirk a bit, and I hoped that Paul wouldn't see it, or else he wouldn't call me back.

On second thought, he probably wouldn't, anyway.

"Hmph," was Paul's very non-committal answer to my question. He raised his hand in a meager goodbye. "I'll get Reggie."

"Thank you." I grinned at him, waving perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. "See you later!"

The goodbye had been somewhat abrupt, but then again, this was Paul, and I was already happy with the progress we had made. I would allow him an easy escape, for now.

Compared to the conversation with his younger brother, talking to Reggie was a breeze, even though I was unexpectedly hit by some slight nervousness in explaining my research plans. Fortunately, Reggie was very enthusiastic about my plan, and with eased up nerves the discussion flowed.

I knew that time had passed, because one by one, my siblings from young to old came to tell me goodnight, and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that I had missed this, just doing my own thing while Dad took care of everything else.

Cindy – now the eldest of my siblings still at home, with Forrest, Salvadore, Yolanda and Tommy on their journeys – had gone to bed a bit less than half an hour ago, and I knew that if all of them had been silent for this long, then the odds of a calm evening were in my favor.

Of course, I had to admit that it had been a while since any of the children had had any difficulties sleeping, and I wasn't sure whether it was due to Dad's help or just to their age. But whatever the reason, I was now practically assured a calm evening, which was a good thing as Reggie and I had just reached the iffy topic of finding the finances to actually conduct the research.

"We can't expect the trainers to pay," Reggie said, shaking his head. "In fact, maybe we should be paying them, keeping the parents together will highly inconvenience them if they're from different-"

I jumped up, just managing to keep in a surprised yelp at the sudden vibrating of my phone. Now that would have been unmanly. Who would be calling me now? Hardly anyone used my private phone when I was at the Gym, and it was nine in the evening- Was something wrong?

Making a quick, apologizing gesture to Reggie, I hastily pulled out my phone and without looking at the caller ID, I accepted the call. Adrenaline was racing through my body, feeding my feeling of panic- it must be something significant and alarming.

And whatever it was, it certainly sounded alarming enough. A high-pitched shriek made me quickly pull the phone away from my ear, and from the corner of my eyes I could see Reggie staring at the phone in surprise.

Finally I could make out my name in the squealing sound, which, on second thought, sounded more happy than scared.

"Brock! Brock, Brock, Brock!"

"Dawn-?" I had barely said her name or she had already interrupted me.

"Paul asked me out!" Another high-pitched happy squeal.

I stared at the phone, shared a look with a wide-eyed Reggie, and then finally managed to stutter out, "Wow… Wow, that's great!"

And so fast… Paul sure didn't do hesitation, I guessed.

"I know!" Dawn happily responded, before she continued excitedly, "I never expected it, it was such a surprise, it was almost like he had heard what I told you!"

"Heh-heh." I sweat-dropped, and I was glad for the lack of a visual connection. "Such a coincidence…"

"I know, right?" There was no suspicion in her (still very loud) voice, which meant that she was probably too distracted to pick up on my bad acting. I could just imagine her beaming right now, and when another giggle followed, I was pretty sure I was picturing her right. "Anyway, I gotta go, Zoey is still over, and I just called to let you know, so I'll speak to you later, okay?"

Her words were rushed, and I smiled fondly. "Of course, see you later! Enjoy the rest of your evening!"

"Thank you, bye bye!"

"Bye!"

There was the click that told me Dawn had ended the conversation, and I let out a long breath, before turning back to a grinning Reggie. He didn't say anything for a few moments, just grinning widely at me until I felt a grin slowly creep up my face as well.

"Now that's what I call an interesting turn of the conversation," Reggie said, still grinning and leaning back in the chair. "I'm assuming that the Paul Dawn was talking about is the same Paul as the one who's currently upstairs in his room?"

"I'd assume so," I said, amusedly.

Reggie leaned forward again and gave me a quasi-suspicious look. "And would I be correct in assuming that you would have something to do with that as well?"

"It would be a possibility," I replied smoothly, my grin widening even more as the situation started to sink in. It had actually worked! My little push had had effect! Man, Brocko, I still had it!

"Amazing," he breathed, leaning back again, staring at the ceiling and then letting out a short laugh. "Amazing!" He looked back at me again, shaking his head with a wide smile on his face. "I don't know how you did it, I don't know what you said, but finally! Arceus knows how many times _I've_ tried." The grin slowly made place for a curious expression, and he gave me a look. "What _did_ you say, anyway?"

"Nothing special, really," I said with a shrug, pretending to act cool and nonchalant while on the inside I wanted to squeal like a teenage girl when reading a bad romance novel. "Just that he should ask her, that's all."

Reggie shook his head, his smile a bit disbelieving. "I kept telling him that as well, because after all, it's just that easy, just ask her that one question."

I shifted a bit in my chair. It was that easy, just as I had told Paul, just as Reggie was telling me now – just one question I needed to ask.

Wasn't it time for me to follow my own advice?

"You know, Reggie," I interrupted whatever he was going to say next, "It's getting kind of late and I still have a call to make, so would you be okay with continuing this conversation another time?"

The man seemed a bit thrown off by the abruptness of my request, but after a moment gave me a smile and nodded. "Sure! You're right, you're absolutely right, finances aren't really the most fun way to spend the evening, after all."

I smiled gratefully. "Great, then I'll speak to you soon."

"Absolutely. This project should definitely be given a shot." Reggie nodded, looking more serious for a moment, before adding with a conspiring smile, "And thanks for helping my little brother."

Giving him a last grin, I ended the conversation. I stared at the black screen for a moment, at my own face being reflected in it, the grin slowly slipping off my face.

Reggie was right. Paul was right. _I_ was right: I just needed to ask. The fact that she had given me her number already indicated that she was interested, she had pretty much said yes already- Arceus, I had already asked her back at the airport, she had said yes, she had given me her number, this was just a formality, what was I being a wimp about?

Yes. That was the spirit. No more excuses. I could do this.

With renewed determination, I quickly dialed the number I had memorized from the many times I had been staring at it, and adrenaline was racing through my body as the moment seemed to stretch on and on and on-

And then Lucy's lovely face appeared on the screen. Upon seeing my face – or I'd like to think so, anyway – a bright smile appeared on her face, pink immediately rising to her cheeks.

"Brock! H-hey!"

"Hi, Lucy," I breathed, feeling a grin taking over my face. I stared at her in wonder, and she stared back, until I finally realized that she was _expectantly_ staring at me, and then words quickly fell from my mouth without further thought. "So I know this is really late and I'm sorry about that but I was busy trying to gain the courage to call you-"

 _Man, what are you blabbering about?! Just ask the question!_

"Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

My head felt light, and I felt breathless, sweating all over. And then Lucy beamed, nodding her head – _yes yes yes yes_. Her lips were moving, but I wasn't hearing anything, just a loud static buzz, and I had a moment to consider that that was strange but she had said yes so what did it matter everything was perfect and why was Lucy frowning now-

And then I fainted.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you very much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it, I'm really excited for this story. It definitely won't be as long the first story, no more than ten chapters, I think (I'm saying that now, but we'll see how it goes :P), though I do think they will be longer than most of the chapters of _Leave It To Brocko_. I'm still trying to get into a rhythm with this story, so I hope to have the next chapter up within two weeks, but no promises just yet. Anyway, feedback would be very appreciated and loved, so please let me know what you thought of it!

Thank you, and happy holidays!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Bedeviled by Bunnies_ by _The Light's Refrain_. A really short story, more of a drabble really, about Chili, Buneary and slippers. Yes, that's about as logical as it's going to get. A funny and short parody :D

 **Pokémon:** _Red Riding Hood_ by _KateRayearth_. A short multi-chaptered AU story about Ash and Misty. It's quite dark and its secondary genre is horror, but it's definitely worth to face your fears for this story. A really cool AU (the title will perhaps tell you something already) and PokeShipping!

 **Harry Potter:** _Lycanthropy_ by _KitKat-Pyrophobia_. A Rose and Scorpius story with a dark undertone, as besides dealing with their developing relationship, Scorpius also has to come to terms with himself and his new condition (see title :P). So if you want to read something more serious, give this a read!

Any recommendations are of course very welcome!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you very much for all your support so far, I'm really happy to see that so many people are reading this story. Here's the next one!

To _Guest_ : Questions, questions, questions, so many questions :P I'm glad to hear you're excited, I hope you like this one, and thank you very much for your review!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 2**

Okay, that had been quite useless.

With a sigh, I put back the receiver and rubbed my forehead. Well, it was _Ash_ , so I should have expected that he wouldn't be much of a help in the matters of romance. It was just that I was kind of running out of options.

He had tried, though, and I didn't doubt his good intentions. Only his stuttered and flustered advice of "Uh… J-just, just be yourself… I guess?" had not been really what I'd been hoping for.

But like I said, I was running out of options. I had first called Misty, since she happened to be my only female friend who was not prone to squealing and overreacting, like May and Dawn sometimes tended to do. Sadly, her dating experience was limited to Ash, and it quickly became clear that his actions and attempts weren't 'do's', but rather 'don't's.

May had, as expected, mostly squealed, especially in the beginning. Because apparently it was just that _cute_ that I was finally, finally, _finally_ going on _a date_ with _Lucy!_ Yes, that was exactly what she had said, only with a lot more exclamation marks.

Her advice had the same drawback as Misty's – her experience was limited to only her dates with Drew. And while being charming, confident, sweet, gentlemanly and bringing a rose for the lady were of course good things to do on a date, it still wasn't really the advice I was looking for.

I had almost called Drew. Back in Hoenn, on that faithful beach when I had finally swallowed my pride and had asked for advice, his help had been surprisingly, well, _helpful_. But despite everything, I barely knew the guy, and I wasn't sure if my pride could handle asking a fifteen years old boy for love advice, _again._ Plus, I reasoned, he probably didn't have anything to say that May hadn't told me yet.

Gary had been easier to call. I knew him better, and he had opened up to me during our rather eventful journey to Hoenn, so I felt more at ease to share my problem as well. And Gary had the rare talent of being able to turn everything in a joke, which could make some conversations upsetting and others much easier. In this case, I had found the lightheartedness a definite plus. And while I did feel more reassured – Lucy had wanted to go out on a date with _me_ , she liked _me_ for being _me_ (even if that _me_ had embarrassingly enough fainted after asking her out, but Mew, I wasn't going to mention _that_ to Gary, in fact, I don't think I will ever mention it again. _Ever_.) so she would want _me_ to be _me_ – I still didn't feel prepared.

Because, fact was, I might have gotten a date with Lucy, but I still didn't have a clue what to do during said date.

And to be even more frank, despite my many attempts of trying to get a date, I had very little experience with actually _going_ on dates, and now I was finding myself nervous and unprepared – and I didn't like being out of control _at all._

Which was the reason I was busying myself with attempting to gather advice and information about dates. It just wasn't going as well as I had hoped.

I sighed, staring at the black screen, my equally morose reflection staring back. Perhaps I should call Drew after all... As if on cue, the screen lightened up again, and the loud "RING, RING, PHONE CALL, PHONE CALL!" filled the room.

And again, I barely managed to keep my balance as I half-fell of my chair- Mew, I needed to stop being so easily startled! Or perhaps I needed another ringtone… A glance at the screen telling me that it was an unknown number and I quickly pressed the accept call button.

"Uh, hello?" Purple filled the screen, and it took me a moment to recognize Iris's big mass of hair. "Hey!" She smiled in relief as she caught sight of me.

I stared at her, my confusion showing on my face, before my good manners took over and I gave her a warm smile. "Hey, Iris." While hopefully no longer obvious on my face, confusion was still a prominent emotion. While Iris and I hadn't necessarily gotten on badly – though there was still that incident with Iris asking if I was in love with her – I wouldn't go as far as calling us friends, and this phone call could definitely be considered strange. Hoping to gain more clarity, I asked, "How have you been?"

Iris blinked, as if not expecting this question. "I've… I'm fine, thanks." She paused, then asked, "And you?"

"Oh, I'm fine, too, just perfectly fine." Silence fell, and I smiled expectantly at her. She pressed her lips together, her eyes shifting, before nodding more to herself than to me.

"I need your advice," she said, her words measured, slow, but determined.

I stared at her, my smile diminishing until I held a serious expression to match hers, and I nodded.

"Well, look..." she faltered, her words suddenly coming out a lot more unsure. "I don't have many female friends, and..." My eyes widened. Oh no, she wasn't going to ask me for the talk, was she? That would be beyond awkward. Not even the 'Are you in love with me?' conversation would measure up in terms of awkwardness. She was fifteen, for Mew's sake, shouldn't she already know? And couldn't I just give her a book? Oh Arceus, why, why, _why?!_

"Well, I mean," Iris continued, pulling me out of my panicked thoughts. "You usually wear an apron, so…" She made a strange gesture with her hands. "So I guess you count, too, right?" She looked at me with a sheepish smile for a moment, before burying her face in her hands.

"Oh Arceus, I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm blabbering about," her muffled voice sounded, and when she looked up I wondered if her skin had always been this dark or if she was actually blushing. "Just… just forget-" She cut herself off and then shook her head. "No, wait, just give me a moment."

I, personally, was too flabbergasted by this strange turn of events to even say something, so I kept silent and waited on further explanation which would hopefully clear this up.

"Ah, anyway..." Iris attempted again, "Cilan and I..." _Oh Arceus_ , I prayed, _please let this not be about what I think it's going to be about._ "We've been on a few dates..." _Please, Mew, no..._ "And it's been really nice and all, Cilan is the perfect gentleman, always taking me to chic restaurants and paying and holding doors…"

I closed my eyes, sucking in a breath. This was indeed going to be about what I had been fervently praying it wasn't going to be about. Dammit.

"And you want to go further than that," I finished for her, deciding we might as well get it over with.

A look of utter relief appeared on Iris's face. "Yes, yes, exactly." She grinned, her expression relaxing and her shoulders sagging forward. "I'm… I'm really glad you understand it. Don't get me wrong, what we're doing is fun and all, but I'd like to try something more…"

I had always thought that Iris was more of a private, reserved person, blunt and to the point perhaps, but still someone who didn't open up easily to strangers. The fact that we were having this conversation about how Iris 'wanted to go further' and 'would like to try something more' was proving my earlier assessment very, very wrong.

"Ah, alright." I swallowed. I was an adult. I could have this conversation. This was an opportunity, make Iris think about this, she was still so young- And if she continued to… insist, well, I could at least… give her the advice to prevent ah, _complications_. Safety measures, and all.

"I think…" I started, awkwardly, then cleared my throat and continued more determinedly, "I think you should first give this some more thought. It is a very big step to take, and it will very probably change a lot in your relationship. Have you really considered if you, both of you, are ready for something like this?"

I was actually quite proud at how I had managed to get that out, but Iris's reaction did not align with what I had expected. Her eyes had narrowed, eyebrows squished together, her mouth half-open and her head cocked to the side. "Wha-?" She blinked, her expression straightening out again, though the odd look in her eyes remained. "Do you really think that it will have _that much_ of an impact?"

Hadn't she really thought more about this? Had she just decided this on a whim, called me for advice and then would proceed to pull through with it? I mean, I knew teenagers were impulsive and bad at thinking about the long-term consequences, but I hadn't expected it to be this extreme!

"Well, yes, yes of course!" I looked at her intensely, and when I continued, I had to take a deep breath to keep the disbelief out of my voice – I needed her to listen to me, and making her feel stupid was not the way to it. "How long have you been thinking about this, Iris? How long have you been considering this?"

When Iris didn't respond, but instead just stared at me, a frown on her face and still that odd look in her eyes, as if she didn't quite understand why I was being so serious about this, a horrible thought occurred to me.

Cilan was older than Iris. Surely he hadn't been… I could barely imagine it, something heavy dropping in my stomach, but with Iris's behavior I had to consider it… Surely he hadn't been… pressuring her?

"Iris," I softened my voice, hoping that she didn't hear my anxiousness in it. "Iris, have you and Cilan… talked about this?"

She was still looking at me oddly, but finally answered, a hint of confusion in her voice, "Well, no. That's kinda the point, you know." She shrugged. "I thought it was nice as a surprise, but if you think I should talk about it with Cilan…"

This conversation was just too strange, and I couldn't keep up my façade any longer.

"You thought sex was 'nice as a surprise'?" I asked, my voice several pitches higher than usual.

"Wha-" Her jaw dropped, a definite blush coloring her cheeks, and her eyes widened almost comically. "What- what are- _what are_ _you talking about?"_

"Uh," was my very intelligent response.

"S-s-sex?!" She had some difficulty getting the word out, but it seemed more borne from anger than anything else. "You thought- I wasn't- Cilan and I aren't- I wasn't talking about having sex!" Iris seemed to have regained control of her tongue again. "I was talking about our dates!"

I stared at her for several moments longer, realization slowly starting through trickle through before the dam broke and it hit me with full force. I almost ducked for cover, as if I could actually physically hide for this situation.

"Oh my Arceus…" Iris whispered, rubbing her face with one hand and staring at me in disbelief.

"I…" I finally managed to stutter out, and then gave in to the reflex of taking cover, hiding my flaming face in my hands. "Arceus… Oh, Arceus…"

This was horrible. This was absolutely a disaster. This was a terrible, incredibly _stupid_ miscommunication, so horrifyingly embarrassing it wasn't even funny anymore-

Then, Iris giggled. It wasn't a nice giggle – it was a high-pitched, slightly hysterical and definitely not sane kind of giggle.

I pulled my face out of my hands, looking up in alarm. Another giggle escaped Iris, even though it seemed she was doing her best to hold them back, her hands in front of her mouth. "I'm- I'm sorry," she managed to get out, before letting out a laugh that sounded a lot more normal than her giggles. "I don't know- I'm sorry, I-" Another laugh, and she looked frustrated now. "How come that conversations with you always end up awkward and embarrassing?!"

Whether it was a rhetorical question or not, it was still a good one, with an answer that eluded me.

"I'm- I'm sorry," I finally managed to get out proper words again, and Iris seemed to have calmed down enough to accept my answers again. "I'm really sorry, I don't know-" As soon as I realized I couldn't explain how I had come to the conclusion that we were talking about sex, _of all things_ , I cut myself off with a shake of my head. "Never mind. Just-" I cut myself off again, closing my eyes as I rubbed my forehead, before letting out a breath. "Let's just forget about this, okay?" I couldn't help the pleading tone in my voice. "What did you want help with, again?"

She stared at me, and for a moment she seemed to consider pushing the subject, her lips parting already, but fortunately for me – and her, because any continuation of this topic would surely fall into the category awkward – other words came out.

"Well… What I wanted to ask..." She paused, rephrasing her thoughts. "Cilan and I have gone on several dates. It's really great, it's… it's wonderful-" Another pause, but this time it seemed more because Iris got distracted than anything else. "But… I'd like to try something else."

I didn't respond, only cocked my head questioningly, and Iris correctly took this as her cue to explain further. "I mean, I really like it, but… our dates are always kind of the same." She made a helpless gesture and let out a long breath. "We go to a chic restaurant, and we have dinner, and Cilan is the perfect gentleman, and really, honestly, it's sweet and fun, but…" She grinned a bit sheepishly and shrugged. "I'd like to do something more exciting."

"And…" Iris continued after another moment of silence, the grin falling off her face. "I don't know how to tell Cilan without hurting his feelings…" She finished with another sigh, her shoulders sagging, and then looked at me expectantly.

I took a few moments of silence to consider the situation, but the solution already appeared quite clear to me. "Well… then don't." A frown appeared almost instantly, which almost caused me to smile at her confusion as I hurried to explain. "Don't tell him you don't like _his_ dates, but take the initiative and organize a date yourself." Now I grinned. "And when everything is going well and you're both having fun, tell him that you like surprises and trying out new things once in a while – Cilan is no Ash, I think he'll be able to take the hint."

"It's…" Iris started, considering the idea but seeming hesitant. "Didn't you always say that communication is the key, or something like that?"

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "And you are going to tell him that you would like to try something else once in a while, that is why you set up the date in the first place." I nodded to myself. "Yes, you set up the date, and when you two have had fun, you tell him that you like trying new things on your dates and that that's why you organized this date."

Iris nodded, slowly, and I added, "Just don't forget to make clear to Cilan that you don't _dislike_ the previous dates, otherwise he probably will be hurt."

"That's… That's actually not that bad an idea." It almost sounded like she had _expected_ me to come up with a bad idea (but could I blame her, with how the first part of our conversation had gone?). Iris nodded, slowly. "Yes, I think… I think I'll give that a try. And if it doesn't work out, well, there's always just telling him, right?" She laughed a bit uncomfortably.

"There's always that," I conceded, smiling. However, while I was thinking that we were nearing the end of our conversation, Iris didn't appear done yet.

A look of contemplation had appeared on her face before she bluntly asked, "So what do I do?"

"What do you do?" I repeated dumbly.

"Yes." She nodded as if it was obvious. "What do I do for the date?"

"Well, uh..." That particular question had been, and still was, my problem as well. I supposed I could tell her the same things the others had told me, about being confident and charming and gentlemanly (or gentlewomanly, in this case), but I doubted it would help Iris any more than it had helped me – meaning, very little. "Do you have any ideas?" I asked, buying myself time. "What do _you_ want to do?"

After all, that was what it was about, wasn't it? And who knows, if Iris had some good ideas, it might spark my own creativity as well.

"Hmm..." Now it was Iris's turn to scrunch up her face in thought. "Well, obviously, Cilan has to like it as well… I'd like to try something new..."

There was some silence as Iris considered her options, and I myself tried to think of some ideas as well, but my mind came up blank, just as it had been on this subject the past few hours.

"I know!" Iris's exclamation pulled me out of my thoughts. "Dancing!" She grinned at me, nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, dancing, dancing lessons. It's old-fashioned enough for Cilan to count as a traditional date, but we could try the salsa or the tango or some other exciting dance."

"That… does sound good," I admitted after some moments of consideration. "Really good, in fact." I grinned encouragingly at her. "Have either of you danced before?"

Iris pulled a face, before shaking her head with a laugh. "No, no," she said, but after a moment of pause, she added, "Well, I sure haven't, at least. Cilan... I don't know. Maybe he has..." she trailed off, a doubting frown appearing on her face, but I was quick to straighten her up.

"It sounds like a great idea. And perhaps Cilan has danced before, but I bet he never tried something like the tango. He will be just as surprised as you, and I'm sure it'll be really fun." I smiled encouragingly.

Her frown lifted, and a satisfied smile took its place. "It does, doesn't it?" She nodded to herself, and her smile widened into a grateful one. "Thanks a lot, Brock."

"I'm glad I could help," I said with a smile. "I'm sure everything will work out."

She smiled, and after a moment of hesitation, she asked, "This stays between us, right?"

"Of course," I promised easily, and then winked. "Wouldn't want to ruin your surprise for Cilan, after all." And I really, really didn't want to have anyone else know about my stupid assumption-

"Thanks again, I'll see you around." I waved vaguely in response, and when Iris ended the call, I remained frozen in position for a moment, before my head dropped forward, hitting the table with a thump. And for good measure, I raised my head before letting it hit the table again.

 _So stupid!_ _Stupid, idiotic, embarrassing, horrifying-_

After taking several moments, which evolved into minutes, which evolved into even more minutes, indulging in a pity party ( _oh my Arceus, sex? Why had I thought we had been talking about sex?! Mew, how can I be so freaking_ stupid _?!_ ) and some moping ( _still no closer to a solution for my dating dilemma, sigh, what am I supposed to do now, this is going to be horrible-_ ) I finally lifted my head from the table, blinking away spots in my vision.

I took a breath. Time to get back in the game. Iris had just called _me_ , barely more than a stranger, for advice, so surely I had the guts to call yet another person, a friend, for help. _Drew? Or…_ I considered Iris's words, and moments later I was scrolling through my contacts.

My finger hovered over the _call_ button. I didn't doubt that Cilan would be willing to help me, but my pride was turning out to be one last obstacle. With some difficulty, I shook it off – I had helped Cilan, so there was no shame in my request for him to return the favor, and pressed the green button.

"Striaton City Gym and restaurant, how may I help you?" I momentarily frowned at the formal greeting, before realizing that the screen on his side was probably showing an unknown number. At the same time it also hit me that Cilan had two brothers who could have picked up the phone as well, but that concern was short-lived as almost simultaneously Cilan's face appeared on the screen.

A flash of surprise crossed his face, before being expertly hidden behind a genuine smile. "Brock, good afternoon! It is always a pleasure to see you, but I must say this call is an especially surprising delicacy."

"Thanks, Cilan, it's always nice to see you, too." Although his way of talking was sometimes a bit odd, I liked him well enough.

Cilan's smile gained an apologetic touch as he spoke his next words, "Do you have any particular reason to call? Because as much as I would like to chat, I'm afraid that at the moment-"

"Oh, no, don't worry," I quickly assured him. "I won't keep you long, because as you said, I do indeed have a particular reason to call."

Cilan nodded, and then moved to sit down in front of the video, instead of standing half-bent over, which must be especially uncomfortable for someone of his length.

"Well…" I started when Cilan was looking at me with a patient but expectant smile on his face. "I would like to hear your advice on a certain matter…"

Cilan nodded thoughtfully in response, and then, for what felt like the nth time today, I was repeating my speech about my date with Lucy but my lack of a concrete idea of what to do.

"You could take her out for dinner," Cilan offered after a moment of thought, an answer I had expected. He seemed to realize that it wasn't quite what I was looking for, because he quickly added, "Of course that is a quite standard idea, but I suppose you could give it your own twist, add your own spices to make the recipe yours, so to say."

Cilan sure did like his food metaphors, I thought with an inward smile. It was a good thing Iris was so blunt and knew how to put him in place, otherwise he would probably drive someone crazy, the poor sap.

Still, his words so far were the closest to hitting the mark of all the advices, or attempts at advice, I had heard today. "Yes," I said, nodding in relief, "that's indeed more what I was thinking about." I paused, trying to gather my thoughts. "I want… I want it to be special… I want it to be a first date she'll never forget, perfect for her…"

"Quite high expectations, if you don't mind me saying," Cilan said, and I thought there was perhaps a note of amusement in his voice. "It sounds…" He considered his words. "It sounds like you want it to be personal, right?" When I nodded in confirmation, he gave me a small smile. "What is personal for you, then? What do you like to do? What would you like to share with Lucy?"

That was… actually a really intelligent way of looking at it. "About everything related to Pokémon," I started, now talking more to myself than Cilan. "Lucy likes that, too. Being outside, travelling… but that's not really something you can do for a first date." I shook my head. "And a Pokémon battle… isn't all that romantic, either-"

"Now, now," Cilan interrupted, "Don't shoot down all your ideas right away. A Pokémon battle might be the perfect way to break the ice, and a walk to see the sights of Mother Nature might be very enjoyable as well."

I let out a breath, before nodding. Cilan's smile widened, and he pressed, "What else do you like?"

"Uh, I guess I like being inside as well, just cozy on the couch watching TV when the weather's bad. Cooking, of course. Movies, and board games are fun at times as well..."

"Any ideas coming to mind?"

The Pokémon battle and hiking Cilan mentioned sounded tempting, but I didn't want the date to be ruined because of bad weather, and there was always a chance of bad weather here in Kanto.

"A... movie?" I said hesitantly, before shaking my head. The cinema was too cliché, and there wasn't really a way to make a movie personal, except for starring in it or producing it yourself. And no, I was _not_ going to watch my old home videos with Lucy. I wanted to make the date memorable, but not _that_ kind of memorable.

Still… Home videos...

"We could watch a movie, here, at my house." Although I would need a way to get the younger ones out of my hair- but there was probably a way for Dad to help me with that.

Cilan smiled encouragingly. "There you go."

"And, and…" I nodded, the wheels in my head now apparently turning on full power and producing perfect ideas. "I'm going to cook for her, we'll have dinner, here, in my house, I just have to make sure the kids are out, and, and, after dinner, we'll watch a movie."

 _Yes, yes, this is it, this is exactly what I've been looking for_. I nodded to myself, a grin forming on my face. "Yes, I'll cook, and Lucy can pick the movie, that's fair…" I beamed at Cilan.

"Wonderful." Cilan satisfaction was a bit more contained than mine, but he was still smiling. "That is a truly wonderful idea."

"It is, isn't it?" I grinned proudly, before humbling my demeanor. "Thank you very much, Cilan."

"It was my pleasure, I'm very glad I could help." He smiled, before his expression turned serious again. "Was there anything else I could help you with, or…?" he trailed off, and I got the hint that it was time for me to wrap up the conversation. He still had a restaurant and a Gym to run, after all.

And I couldn't help but use this last opportunity to meddle just a tiny little bit.

"Just one more thing," I quickly said. "Purely out of curiosity, really."

"Hm?"

"What do you and Iris usually do on your dates?" I did my best to keep my face straight, but there was a grin tugging at my lips as I saw how a blush started to color Cilan's pale skin.

"Ah, we haven't been on that many dates, yet..." He shifted a bit, and despite the blush, his facial expression was neutral enough.

"Yet, eh?" I wriggled my eyebrows suggestively. "Well, it's always fun to try something new, get out of your comfort zone and all. Dinners, and movies, sure get repetitive after a while." Thank Arceus I caught myself just in time and added the movies bit to prevent suspicion from Cilan.

"A-ah…" For the first time in this conversation, Cilan faltered – _gotcha_ – though he quickly recovered. "So, you would suggest a change if a couple, say, only went out for dinner so far?"

That was obviously not a hypothetical question, but I would not call him out on it. "Well, of course dinner dates are perfectly fine," I assured him, "but like you pointed out, doing something personal or special or just trying something new, well, that could obviously be a lot of fun as well."

My smile changed to sympathetic. "And I think that Iris would definitely be up for trying something new. She's adventurous, I'm sure that she wouldn't mind spicing things up a bit." I mentally congratulated myself on my use of a food metaphor.

If Cilan was surprised at this piece of unasked advice, he hid it well. There was some relief in his smile, though. "I think you're right, thank you, Brock."

"No, thank _you_ ," I parroted, bobbing my head with a grin. An answer to my date dilemma and getting the opportunity to help Iris and Cilan, all in just one conversation – that definitely was reason enough for a grin.

We said our goodbyes, and still feeling the energy and determination that Cilan's words had invigorated, I immediately called Lucy. I knew myself, and I knew that if I didn't do it now, my rising nervousness would very probably cause me to procrastinate. Nervousness that I was already feeling now, I realized, wringing my hands together and Butterfree swarming in my stomach, as I waited for Lucy's beautiful face to appear on the screen.

Even though I was prepared for it, I still felt my words getting stuck in my throat as she beamed at me in greeting. "Hey beautiful," I recovered after a moment, rather smoothly if I do say so myself, though I felt my cheeks grow warm.

I was immediately rewarded with a shy smile and a blush. "Hi, Brock, how are you?"

"Especially wonderful right now, if I do say so myself." I winked, and the Butterfree increased their speed in my stomach. "How about you?"

Lucy giggled. "I'm doing well, thank you." After a moment's pause, she added. "I'm excited about our date…"

I beamed, the Butterfree going wild. "Me, too." I remembered Drew's words of not coming on too eager and desperate, but seeing Lucy grinning back at me, I easily dismissed his words. "I was thinking… If you are okay with it, of course, that maybe you could come over to my house, and I'll cook dinner, and if you bring a movie, we can watch that afterwards..."

Lucy's smile had widened as I spoke, effectively quelling my doubts, but I still grinned in relief when she nodded. "Yes, that sounds wonderful!"

We decided on a day and time, and after some blushing and shy smiles – admittedly from my side as well, because come on, cut me some slack, this was the first time I had gotten a real date – we said our goodbyes.

And I was going to make it sure this date would be perfect.

* * *

Wiping my hands on the legs of my pants, I forced myself to take a deep breath. _Be calm, be cool._ Mentally I went through my checklist for the nth time. Spaghetti was in the pan, cooking and almost done. Red sauce nicely bubbling and smelling great. Meat looked good as well, the little meatballs happily baking brown. The table was decked for two, and after some more thought I discarded the single candle anyway. A candle would be romantic, yes, but perhaps overly so.

Last but definitely, _definitely_ not least, I quickly stalked through the house, checking if there weren't any loose toys around and if the siblings were really, truly gone.

I rubbed my face in an attempt to calm myself down. Of course they were gone, I had personally seen them off. Dad was taking them to a cheap fast-food dinner restaurant, and he had promised that if they were done too soon, he'd keep them busy by bringing them to a playground or something.

I doubted if Dad would actually go to a playground in the evening, but it was a nice gesture. Dad's reaction had been a bit odd when I had asked him to take the kids out for an evening – strangely mentioning something about me now owing him one, or something, but I had agreed too quickly to give it much thought. Besides, I knew it had been a strange request, as I hadn't actually told Dad I had a date, but had went with the excuse that a friend was coming over and I just wanted a kids-free evening. I had never done that before, my other friends were never bothered (much) by my siblings, so I guessed that could explain Dad's reaction.

But anyway, what counted was that Dad was making sure I had a relatively kids-free evening. I knew it would be relative, because they still had a bedtime, but hopefully by the time they came home I would be up in my room with Lucy, cozily watching a movie.

The doorbell rang and I almost jumped out of my skin. Oh Arceus, oh Arceus, she was here, she really was, it was happening, my first date with Lucy- _Breathe, Brocko, breathe._ I forced myself to slowly and calmly walk to the door, instead of running like my feet wanted to do, and the result was an awkward stride to the door. Fortunately she couldn't see me yet.

 _Keep your desperation in check, be charming and confident and gentlemanly and-_

"Hi."

"Hey, Brock."

She was smiling so beautifully, more beautifully than a screen of a videophone could ever convey, clutching a bag to her chest which had a typical rectangular shape that hinted at the contents. She looked excited. That was good, right? Yes, yes, that was good. She kept staring at me. That was good, too, right? A little bit unnerving, but if she wanted to stare at me I wasn't going to stop her-

"Uh, can I come in?" she asked timidly, and I immediately wanted to bang my head against the door frame. Fortunately I had at least the sense to do something more useful, as I, flustered and apologizing profusely, stepped aside. _Idiot, idiot, idiot. Not a good way to start the date. Calm and cool and collected and confident and not,_ not _desperate, so_ staring at her like an idiot is not the way to go!

"Thanks," she said as she flitted past me, not seeming to notice my strange behavior. I closed the door behind me and scored some gentleman points by taking her light jacket. I showed her to the kitchen and pulled her chair back, a gesture she accepted with a rather surprised but genuine smile and a thanks. Maybe I should've kept that candle on the table anyway, it seemed to fit the atmosphere now.

"Spaghetti, I hope you like it?" As I asked the question, I realized with horror how completely wrong this could go, what if she was allergic of what if she hated spaghetti? What if she was a vegetarian? Or what if it had been horribly burnt or I had accidentally used expired products or the meat wasn't done yet and I ended up poisoning her and-

"Yes, that sounds wonderful, I love spaghetti."

 _Right. Relax. Breathe._ It didn't seem to do much good. My hands were trembling as I took the pan to put the spaghetti in the colander, and I almost dropped the lid in my attempt. I heard a chair scraping over the floor and I looked up in alarm to see Lucy getting up. She gave me a shy smile as she moved over to the stove, taking the pan with sauce to place it on the table.

I almost dropped the lid again. Quietly, as if I wasn't meant to hear it, I heard Lucy say, "Nervous?"

"Eh, yeah, a little," I answered, letting out a definitely nervous laugh.

"Oh!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I mean, I'm nervous, too." She wrung her hands together, but she smiled at me nonetheless. "Let's just both relax, okay? It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be..."

"Fun?" I offered, and her smile widened in response.

"Yes," she said relieved, nodding as she sat down. "Yes, let's relax and just have fun."

Right. She was right. Lucy was nervous, too, it was perfectly natural. This was our first date. It didn't have to be perfect. I let out a breath, and moved to sit down as well, before stopping as I remembered something.

"Wait," I said, holding up one hand. "Wait, just one second…" I quickly left the kitchen, and returned with the previously discarded candle.

"Would you like some candlelight, milady?" I offered with a grin.

Lucy looked at the candle for a moment, then back at me, a playful twinkle in her eyes. "Why, good sir, I think that would be lovely."

My grin widened, and I felt the tension flow out of my body as Lucy beamed back at me.

* * *

 _To yawn, or not to yawn?_ I mentally debated with myself as I shifted on my small couch again. I stole another glance at the beautiful woman who was seated next to me, and she still seemed to be completely focused on the movie.

The date was going just splendid, if I do say so myself. The beginning had perhaps been a bit rocky, and we'd had to resolve a small squabble about the dishes – I had insisted on doing them myself, while Lucy had argued that she would feel useless not doing anything – but other than that the date was going wonderful.

And now my small TV was showing one of the movies Lucy had brought with her – a romantic comedy I had already seen, so I could get away with just half-heartedly paying attention. After all, with Lucy sitting next to me, I had already anticipated that my focus on the movie would not be optimal.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I came to a decision. Cool and confident, right? So, with a perfectly acted yawn, I stretched my arms above my head, and while one of them neatly dropped back at my side, the other one had a more important mission. Very, very carefully I placed it down on the backrest behind Lucy, and then even more slowly allowed it drop down, onto Lucy's bare shoulders.

While inwardly I wanted nothing more than to look at her and gauge her reaction, I forced myself to continue staring at the screen. I hadn't felt Lucy react at all, was that a good thing or not? Had she even noticed? What if-

Then I felt Lucy move, shifting closer to me, until her warm figure was completely leaning against me. I couldn't help but sigh happily and despite my previous resolve, looked back at Lucy again. She caught my eye and smiled, then snuggled even closer before turning her attention back to the screen. I kept looking at her for several more moments, a grin growing on my face and the Butterfree in my stomach going wild, before looking back to the TV as well.

My attention had almost been completely on the screen – we were at the end of a buildup to a big confrontation – when my leg was suddenly vibrating from an incoming call. Lucy almost jumped away from me, looking startled, and I quickly fumbled to get out my phone. With an apologizing smile I quickly pulled out my phone and held it up in an explaining gesture, before glancing at the caller ID and frowning.

Cilan? Why would Cilan be calling me? Why would he call me now, of all the possible moments he could have picked, exactly during my first date-

"Hello?" I picked up. Only one way to find out.

"Good evening, Brock," Cilan's very cheery, more so than usual, voice patched through.

"Hello, Cilan," I greeted him, giving Lucy a look. "What are you calling for?"

He must have heard something in my voice, because he asked, "My apologies for calling at such a time, I hope I'm not interrupting anything…?"

"Well, actually…"

"Oh, I am so sorry." He immediately caught the hint. "I'll make it very quick, it's of no importance, I was merely calling to let you know that Iris and I have just enjoyed our first salsa lesson, and to extend my gratefulness to you for your previous call."

I blinked, before finally processing what Cilan was saying. "O-oh, oh, wow, that's great, I'm glad to hear that." A genuine smile spread over my face.

"Yes, yes, indeed." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Anyway, if you are busy, then I'll just…"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'd love to chat, but I am kinda busy…" I shot Lucy another look, and though she made a dismissive gesture, I wasn't about to neglect her on our very first date.

"That's quite alright, we'll keep in touch," Cilan graciously replied. "Have a great evening!"

"Thank you, you as well, and congratulations, by the way." After Cilan's reply, I ended the conversation, and then turned back to Lucy.

"I'm sorry," I said, falling back on my small couch and now noticing that she had paused the movie. "To be honest, hardly anyone _ever_ calls me on my cellphone, and I really hadn't expected any calls _tonight_."

"That's okay, it's not a problem," Lucy said, waving away my apology. "It happens-"

My phone, still in my hand, started vibrating again, interrupting whatever Lucy was going to say.

 _Iris_ , my caller ID showed and I stared at it for several moments.

"That's, ah, that's a continuation of the previous conversation, I better pick up, just give me a minute," I quickly explained with another apologizing smile.

"Hey, Iris," I said, getting up from the couch again.

"Brock? Hey, Brock!" I didn't have much difficulty in hearing the obvious happiness in her voice, and it confirmed my previous assumption.

"Hey, Iris," I repeated, trying to sound a bit more relaxed. It was just going to be short call, I would make sure of that if Iris herself didn't do that herself already.

There were several beats of silence, and then I heard a nervous laugh from Iris's side.

"Er, you're probably wondering why I'm calling you now…" she trailed off, and I could feel an amused smile creeping up my face.

"A little bit, yeah," I said.

"Well, Cilan and I went out on our date, salsa dancing…"

"So my advice paid off?" I hurried the conversation along, and perhaps I wasn't such a good actor as I had thought, because it appeared that Iris noticed something was off.

"Yeah…" Her hesitant reply came, and then, "Is everything alright, Brock?"

"Er…" I considered my words. "Not to be rude or anything, but I'm kinda in the middle of something, so…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called at a time like this," Iris hurried to apologize.

"It's alright, you couldn't have known." And now I felt bad for not having time for her. "I'm glad the salsa thing between you and Cilan worked out," I said, and I hoped she could her the genuineness in my voice.

"Yes, yes." The cheerful notes were back in her voice, and I smiled. "Anyway, I just called to let you know, and to thank you, I guess."

"It was not a problem, I'm happy it worked out," I said, glancing at Lucy.

"Yeah… Anyway, that's all, you can just go back to whatever you were doing before…"

"We'll talk more later, okay?" I offered, and then added a bit more teasing, "I'll call you back later and then we can talk about your date with Cilan, with _all_ the details."

"Uh, no, no, that's really not needed," Iris said, letting out a nervous laugh. "Anyway, I'll be off. Have a good evening!"

"Thank you, you as well," I said, before ending the call and immediately turning back to Lucy. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Mew, Lucy," I sighed, "I'm so sorry, I really don't know- I mean-" I didn't even know what I wanted to say.

"It's okay, Brock, really." She let out a light laugh, plucking at the hem of her shirt.

"No, no, it's not okay," I muttered, shaking my head as I sat back down on the seat. "It's not okay, I shouldn't have picked up, I'm ruining this date, I'm-"

"Brock," Lucy interrupted me, this time more forcefully. She placed a hand on mine, effectively redirecting my attention to her. "It's okay," she insisted gently, smiling.

"Right." I nodded and let out a breath of relief. "Right. Thank you." I smiled, and when I went to put my hand over hers, I realized I was still holding my phone. An idea struck. "You know what?" I held up my phone, then pushed a button. "So, I'm turning it off now, so no more stupid interruptions."

Lucy smiled. "Let's get back to the movie, right?"

I nodded, and in a show of confidence while inwardly praying that she wouldn't reject me, I held up my arm in a clear invitation. Her eyes sparkled and though she was blushing, her smile was mischievously as she snuggled up against me.

Grinning, I pressed play and settled to enjoy the rest of the movie, without further interruptions.

However, it wasn't long after that, that I could hear voices outside. Children's voices, and it took my distracted mind several moment to realize that Dad and the kids were home. I tensed up when I heard several pairs of feet run up the stairs – which caused Lucy to give me a look – but none of them got close to my room and I relaxed again.

They were getting ready for bed, I knew, and when one of them started to cry (fortunately quickly quieted by Dad) I could no longer avoid Lucy's questioning look.

"My siblings, I'm the eldest of ten." I explained, hoping that it wouldn't scare her off and quickly adding, "The older ones are on their journey, but the younger ones are still at home."

"That must be nice, having such a big family," she remarked, and I had to bite my tongue not to ask if she wanted kids – talk about being forward and desperate – and instead asked if she had any siblings.

"A younger brother," she reminded me, and I felt my cheeks warm at the memory of my stupid conclusion of her brother being her boyfriend. "We used to fight quite a lot when we were younger, so perhaps it's a good thing there weren't any more siblings," she added with a light laugh, and I hid my embarrassment behind a responding grin.

As the kids quieted down I realized that the movie was nearing its climax. Lucy was completely enthralled by the story, and I tried to be as well, but habitually I was still listening to any noises that would alert me to a not-sleeping child.

Footsteps, but I frowned when I couldn't pinpoint their owner. My door creaked very quietly, and I slowly turned my head to glance inconspicuously at the intruder, hoping to send whoever it was quickly back to bed with just mouthing words-

But to my surprise, there was no short figure in the door opening, but rather my father's taller stature.

He glanced at me, then at Lucy – who fortunately still hadn't noticed anything – my arm around her and the movie playing on the screen, and then back at me. I couldn't read his expression in the meager light, but I stared back with what I hoped was a neutral expression to conceal the embarrassment I was feeling.

 _This is it,_ I thought, _this is the moment the date is going to be ruined. Dad is going to step in, he's going to embarrass me, he's going to embarrass Lucy-_

Dad smiled, not mischievously but somehow strangely... emotional, and then quietly disappeared as he closed the door.

I blinked in surprise at this fortunate turn of events, but I wasn't going to complain. I looked back at Lucy, and though she had seemed completely focused on the movie, she seemed to feel my stare and looked up to shoot me a quick smile. I smiled back, tightening my hold on her as I looked back to the movie.

Relaxing further into the couch, I allowed a quiet breath to escape. All obstacles were dodged, nothing was in ruins, everyone was still alive and in one piece – this date was actually going well beyond any of my expectations.

Rather perfect, actually.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it, it got way longer than I intended haha. On that note, I'm afraid that two weeks are a bit too short for me to manage a chapter – it worked now, because I'm on break, but with school and all, I think three weeks would be better. The chapters are longer, so I hope that compensates for the longer waits. Also, a happy New Year to all of you! :D Anyway, reviews are very much loved, so please don't hesitate ;)

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Twisted Victory_ by _Illusion of Insanity._ **FFN.** A dark and angsty but still very good one-shot about Lyra and Silver. It explores an AU, with Silver having accepted his fate in Team Rocket, and now coming face to face with the new Champion, whom he remembers from his past… SoulsilverShipping, and it's really a shame it's so short.

 **Pokémon:** _Pop the Question_ by _rocketsandwaterfalls._ **FFN**. Definitely lighter than the above story, this is a funny and romantic story about Jessie and James, in which accidentally a certain question is posed (see title :P) which has far-reaching and hilarious consequences. RocketShippy!

 **Harry Potter:** _A seventh year, in which things might change_ by _Everybody-knows55_. **FFN**. A sadly unfinished multi-chaptered story that I still enjoyed very much. It's a romance about Rose and Scorpius, who start out with the typical hate-love relationship in their seventh year, until, of course, things start to change :P

Of course, I always love to get recommendations from you!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** As always, I can't thank you guys enough for your continuing support! Here's chapter 3, I hope you like it! Also, this chapter contains some teenage stuff in the most theoretical sense of the word, just a heads up for the younger readers.

To _Guest (01-01-2016)_ : Thank you for your lovely review, I hope you'll like this chapter just as much :D

To _Guest (16-01-2016):_ I'm very glad you're liking it so far, and thank you very much for your review!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 3**

"Brock?" I heard my father call, and at that I stopped before turning back around. I had been on my way back to my room from the kitchen, back to my studying after a short break, but now I retraced my steps.

"Hm?" I poked my head back in the kitchen, where Dad stood in the middle, shifting from one foot to another.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" He looked a bit nervous, I realized. It was a look I hadn't seen on him for a while, not since he had come back, really. I nodded, hiding my concerned frown, and instead smiling in an attempt to ease some of his tension as I stepped fully into the kitchen.

"Sure," I said easily, and he tried for a tense smile as he gestured for me to sit down in front of him. He looked unusually serious and it got me a bit uncomfortable, and mentally I went over the sensitive subjects he could possibly want to talk about. Mom? The kids? Or maybe about me?

I frowned as I remembered one instance, when Dad had asked me if I wanted to see a psychologist, because of what I'd had to deal with at such a young age, taking care of my younger siblings and taking over the Gym and my parents leaving and all- That had been a conversation I didn't necessarily feel the need to repeat, though I had admitted to both him and myself that the intention was good. After all, he really was trying. And well, one parent was better than none, right? In most cases anyway.

Feeling bit more wary now, but keeping my smile, I sat down. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Ah, well, Brock, I've been meaning to talk about this with you for a while now..." He put his hands on the table, intertwining his fingers.

Oh yes, this was definitely going to be a serious talk, then. He had chosen the moment perfectly, I admitted, the chance of interruption minimalized with the kids at school.

"Of course." My face grew serious as I tried to curb my nervousness. I needed to keep a cool head for this.

"Right, right." He nodded, looking down at his hands. "Well, I'm sure you remember, a few weeks ago you had a certain lady over..."

I blinked. _That_ sentence sure changed the direction of the conversation, and I suddenly felt uncomfortable for a whole other reason.

"Yes," I said, honestly. "That was Lucy, one of the Frontier Brains, and the Queen of the Battle Pike."

He nodded, looking somewhat relieved that I was cooperating so well, before continuing with what I was now suspecting was a practiced speech. "And you've been meeting up more often with this girl, right?"

"Yes..." _Alarm, alarm, awkward parent-child talk coming up, please evacuate as quickly and calmly as possible-_

"Brock, I realize your education has been lacking in some aspects, so I would like to talk with you about a certain subject-"

 _Uh-oh._

"Dad, I'm an adult-"

He had seemed to have expected this response, as he easily replied, "I know you're a grown man, and I'm sure your education on the subject of sex has been adequate from school, but I would still like to add my own lessons to this."

Right, he had definitely practiced this conversation.

"Dad..." I started.

"I know this might be an uncomfortable subject for you, but I believe it will be good for both of us to talk about this," he said, the words coming out more rushed now, though he kept a straight face.

Oh Arceus. He was trying so hard, I knew. He had actually taken up the task of having this conversation with the younger ones, something I had been grateful about as I'd had definitely some difficulty with the girls, but I hadn't expected him to try it with me!

I pressed my lips together, but finally let out a breath of resignation. If he wanted to try it with me, well, go ahead, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop him, anyway. "Okay, talk away."

Dad hesitated for a moment, and then took a deep breath. "I know this is must be a confusing time for you, going through all these changes, all those hormones and feelings-"

Okay, we could skip this part. "Dad, I'm eighteen, I got most of puberty down already, you know."

"Oh yeah, right." He seemed thrown off by this, but quickly regathered himself. "Well, you probably do have some feelings towards this Lucy. And some... desires..."

I couldn't help it anymore, and dropped my head in my hands. Dad continued on mercilessly.

"But you must understand, Brock, that it's fine to experiment and to try new things, but you must be sure that both of you are consenting and willing. It's your job to take care of her, and you must always be mindful of her. Make sure she's comfortable. If she says no, it's no. If she appears not to want to do something, don't push her."

I raised my head from my hands and nodded seriously. "Yes, I know." Better work with him, because if he thought that I wasn't taking this seriously, he would undoubtedly try again at a later time.

"Good, good." Dad seemed relieved, his smile less strained now. "I already expected that." He turned serious again. "Also, the same goes for you, of course. If you don't want to do something, you should let her know, give her a clear message, and make sure she gets it, and if she continues to push you-"

"Lucy wouldn't do that," I said, and Dad didn't argue.

"The point still stands," he said, and I nodded.

"And, like I said, it's okay to experiment and be curious about things, but..." He fidgeted with his hands, his serious appearance cracking a bit and it made me dread the next part even more. "Do make sure you're being safe. There are several ways to protect yourself against unwanted complications-"

"Yes, yes, Dad, I know!"

He completely ignored me. "I would advise a condom, and if she's on the pill that would make it even better-"

"Dad! We haven't even kissed yet!"

He fell silent. Blood rushed to my face and I wished I could shove the words back into my mouth. I'd definitely _not_ wanted to share that detail with my father.

"Oh, uh, right..." he said, coughing awkwardly. I could almost see his thoughts: But you have been seeing her for several weeks now, why haven't you kissed her yet? Does she not like you enough? Or don't you have enough guts to try? He didn't say any of those things, but instead settled for: "Is there a particular reason-"

"No!" I quickly denied. There wasn't a particular reason, as Dad so aptly put it, that Lucy and I hadn't kissed yet. It was just a series of really bad coincidences and even worse luck and I really, really, didn't want to think about it, but this conversation had triggered my mind to recall some rather horrific events in which I had attempted to lock lips with Lucy.

And there I went, flashbacking to said horrific events. The first one had been after our first date. I had successfully managed to sneak Lucy down without Dad noticing or waking my younger siblings, because that was confrontation I would rather save for another time.

 _We were outside, as I walking her to her car, all romantic and polite, the atmosphere was just right, it wasn't raining, it wasn't cold, we were staring in each other eyes and smiling slightly and leaning in-_

 _Hot, burning pain shot through my side, and I fell to the ground with a loud cry before the pain subsided, but I already felt the familiar feeling of numbness taking over._

 _"Croagunk."_

 _My Pokémon stood next to me, stoically and showing no reaction when Lucy cried out in panic and quickly knelt down next to me. "Brock! Are you alright?"_

 _I tried to regain control of my tongue, and muttered against the ground, "Y-yeah-" I felt Lucy's hands gently take hold of my face to turn it to the side, so I was no longer inhaling sand. "Thank- thank you. D-don't worry, I'll- I'll be fine." An unwilling shudder went through me. "Sometimes he does that," I finally managed to croak – no pun intended – a whole sentence without stuttering. I shot Croagunk a look. "I'll have a talk with him later."_

 _"_ _Wha-" Lucy had some difficulty grasping the situation, and shot Croagunk a wary glance. "Should I get someone?" A faint sensation told me that she was putting her hands under my arms in a futile attempt to help me up._

 _"No, no," I protested quickly. Oh Arceus, how horrible this indignity, what a disastrous ending to this wonderful date. "Just... leave me here. I'll be fine, really."_

 _"Leave?" Lucy echoed, stopping in her attempts to get me up and instead lowered her head so she could properly look in my eyes. "No way I'm leaving you lying on the ground, Brock."_

 _"Really, it's okay, this'll fade away in a moment..." Already I felt some sensations returning, as if I was being pricked by thousands of needles._

 _"_ _Okay, then I guess I'll just wait," Lucy said, and then actually lied down on the ground so she was face to face with me._

No, there hadn't been any kissing that night, but it was still the best results a Poison Jab had ever yielded.

The next date had already been complicated by my health – in other words, the bad cold that had been going around in my family had finally managed to catch me, and had gifted me with a stuffy nose, red eyes and an almost permanent sniffle. Yet, I had refused to let this ruin my date, and high on painkillers and armed with tissue boxes I had actually managed pretty well, until the very end.

This times our roles had been reversed: the date had been at Lucy's, and she had walked me out. I had talked to Croagunk not to pop out, so this time everything just had had to work out, but-

 _Anticipation was filling me. Anticipation, and the growing need to sneeze. Keep it in, keep it in..._

 _Lucy was leaning in. Her eyes fluttered closed, her cheeks were beautifully rosy, pink lips inviting mine…_

 _I wanted to lean in, I was about to, my eyes already closing, but-_

The Sneeze _... It was too strong._

 _My luck finally made an appearance, and I managed to turn away from Lucy in time, because sneezing in her face was definitely not a situation I wanted to deal with._

Needless to say that any mood for kissing was definitely ruined after that, though Lucy actually did kiss my cheek before she left.

Another date had been at my house, watching a movie again, and this time my siblings hadn't been out of the house, but they had been quiet and nice and had left me alone.

Really, that fact alone should've gotten me so suspicious.

 _Once again the scene was at my front door, wind whispering through the bushes and the moon shining down upon us._

 _Perfect, but yet…_

 _But yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. Something I wasn't going to like_ at all _._

 _This time, there was no Croagunk, and I was very healthy, so once again Butterfree were filling my stomach as Lucy put her arms around me and I gently took her waist. Something was off…_ No, no, focus on the moment _. I closed my eyes, leaning in, trying to commit everything about this moment to memory, the smells, the feelings, the sounds-_

 _A gasp, and it definitely hadn't come from Lucy._

 _As one, Lucy and I turned away from each other and to the direction the gasp had come from. A smack was heard, followed by a hissed "Ow!"_

Oh good Arceus above-

 _Slightly unwillingly, but knowing it had to be done, I let go of Lucy and fully turned to the bushes where the suspicious sounds had come from. Crossing my arms, I stared intently and without wavering at the greenery._

 _I could almost feel Lucy's confused look, and it edged me on to authoritatively clear my throat when nothing happened for a moment too long,_

 _The bush shuddered._

 _Yet, other than that, no reaction. They were stubborn this time. Probably afraid they had gotten me really angry this time. And they had. Sort of. Okay, I was more exasperated and frustrated than angry, but they had just interrupted my would-be first kiss with Lucy, they were allowed to be a bit afraid for a while._

 _"Okay, come on out, we know you're there," I spoke in my best serious voice. Lucy's eyebrows raised when the bushes started to move more violently now, and four squinty-eyed, spikey-haired children stumbled out of the bushes. The oldest three gave us – and my very serious face – a quick glance before redirecting their eyes to the ground, and only Tilly continued to stare at me, her eyes growing wide and her lower lip trembling._

 _"Suzie, Timmy, Billy and Tilly, tell me,_ please _, what were you doing in those bushes?" I continued giving them_ the _stern look. Just for your information,_ the _stern look wasn't just a stern look, oh no- It had an extra sternness and it was saved just for special occasions as this one._

 _Tilly finally averted her eyes, and all of them shuffled nervously. Then Suzie, the oldest and probably the instigator of this mess, looked up, and the glint in her eyes told me that whatever she was going to do, I wasn't going to like it._

 _A shy smile appeared on her face when she turned her sparkling gaze to Lucy. "We're sorry, Brock," she said, sounding sincere enough. "We just wanted to see the pretty lady."_

 _Ooooh, well played, well played. I pressed my lips together when the desired effect was achieved; Lucy let out a cooing sound at Suzie's antics. Right. I knew when a battle was lost. But that didn't mean I wouldn't get in one last hit._

 _"Hm," I said. "That may be so, but you were still invading mine and this pretty lady's privacy. Don't you think you owe us an apology?"_

 _Triumph flashed very quickly over Suzie's face – an apology was no real punishment – before quickly mirroring her siblings' expression with appropriate guilt. "We're sorry," they said as one. Then, in either a continuation of her little stunt but more probably in genuine excitement, Suzie ran towards Lucy and ambushed her with such a forceful hug that Lucy almost fell over._

 _The other three quickly joined their older sister as well, and soon the waterfall of questions started._

The one upside was that at the end of the evening I had managed to score another kiss on my cheek – but then again, so had my siblings.

Our last attempt had been during a friendly bowling match, during, not after, when Lucy had finally to get in that strike she had been _almost_ getting the whole time. In true movie fashion, she had ran towards me, and fortunately it wasn't a comedy because I had managed to catch her without any trouble. We'd kept our hold on each other after the victory spin and hug, and then I had found myself captivated by her beautiful gaze.

 _The dim light created sparkles in Lucy's eyes, and the sounds of rolling balls and the talking of people was reduced to a buzz in my ears as I expectantly closed my eyes. I was just mentally checking everything (no stuffy nose, no siblings, no Croagunk) when-_

 _RING RING, RING RING!_

 _"Mew!" Lucy groaned – it was nice to see she was just as frustrated with our almost kissing as I was – and let go of me, before pulling out her phone. She frowned at the caller ID, and gesturing apologetically to me, she took the call. Her face changed from confused to shocked and upset, and even from my position I could hear the loud female crying patching through._

 _I paused our game as Lucy went off to a more private location, and when she returned a few minutes later, she looked even more apologetic than before. I felt something sink in my stomach and tried to joke, "Our date is going to be cut short, isn't it?"_

And that it had been. With many apologies, Lucy had explained about her friend had caught her long-term boyfriend cheating on her, and Lucy-

"But you haven't kissed her yet?" My father's question cut through my flashbacks.

"Ah-" I started out of my thoughts and back in a conversation I didn't want to have. In the distance, I heard a door open and shut again – one of the kids had gotten home from school.

"Maybe your old man can give you some good advice-"

"Now, Dad, that _really_ isn't needed, I'm fine-" I tried to scramble out as soon as my mind had caught up. After all, running away screaming wasn't really an option, so this was the next best thing – that is, really, really insisting that it was fine and pray to the deities that Dad would get the message.

"Are you sure?" He looked almost eager to help me, and Mew, shouldn't he find this a completely awkward conversation as well?

Before I could reply, a savior came to me in the form of a loud RING RING, PHONE CALL, PHONE CALL!

"I'll get that-" I started to say, but my escape route was cut off by a loud yell from Timmy: "I'll get it!"

The ringing stopped and I was forced to face Dad once again. He looked at me questioningly, still expecting an answer.

"Brock! It's for you!" A loud yell came from the other room, and I bit back my sigh of relief. I shrugged apologetically at my father, and then quickly fled before he could say something.

It appeared that my savior was a frowning redhead, but her expression turned much more pleasant when I appeared, a sweet smile curving her lips-

Hold on a second, _Misty smiling sweetly?_ _Uh-oh-_

But before my alarms could go off completely, Misty's unusual sweet smile morphed back to her normal smile, and it left me with an unsettling feeling.

"Hey, Brock!" She was definitely being more enthusiastic than usual...

"Hi, Misty." I smiled, trying to suppress my unease. "How are you?"

"Good, good, I'm good. And how are you doing?"

I blinked. Usually Misty never passed up on an opportunity to complain (even though ninety percent of her complaints were not genuine and just roundabout ways of telling me how she had been), but now she skipped that step entirely and immediately went to asking how I was. Strange, strange, definitely strange, but I bit back my suspicion – she was still being friendly, and I couldn't very well start to question her about being friendly.

"I'm doing great, thank you." Well, minus the fact that Dad still waiting in the kitchen for me to continue our little talk.

"Good, good, that's good." She nodded, smiling brightly. "How are things with Lucy?" Misty sounded cheerful – _too_ cheerful – and her obvious interest in my life only raised my suspicions further.

It wasn't that Misty was usually uninterested in me, or that she was self-centered, but she rarely posed outright questions and instead let the conversation progress naturally. I didn't mind either way, though I had to admit that this question about Lucy threw me off – where Misty was going with this?

Going with the flow and answering her question would be a good start, I decided. Whatever was bothering Misty would reveal itself soon enough, otherwise she wouldn't have called. And so I told her about our dates, about the cooking, the movies and the snuggling up together, and also about my mischievous siblings and the interrupted bowling date. I was happy to conclude that everything was going wonderful (with the exception of the lack of kissing, but I wasn't planning on sharing _that_ with Misty).

"Snuggling up, hm? That's nice, but a bit tame, don't you think?" Her eyes glistered mischievously, and I shifted in my chair. Just what was that girl planning?

"Who says that's all we have been doing?" I shot back, even though that was indeed pretty much what we had been doing. I added, perhaps a tad more defensive than needed, "And, well, you know, everyone moves at their own pace."

"Yeah, some just go like a Slugma," Misty muttered under her breath. And just like that I knew we weren't talking about me and Lucy anymore.

I let out a breath – knowing that a rant was surely going to follow – before asking, "What did Ash do?"

The rant never came.

Misty just sighed, a faraway look in her eyes. "If only he _did_ something..."

My eyebrows furrowed together at the lack of fire in her answer. "How do you mean?"

"It's Ash. I mean, it's _Ash_." Misty looked at me as if that should explain everything, and when I continued to look at her blankly, she sighed and gestured hopelessly. "He... He's a teenage guy, right? But he never does any... teenage guy things."

Teenage guy things. Right. I would not make the same mistake as I had made with Iris, and I would not, I repeat _I would not_ , jump to conclusions.

"Is Ash not giving you enough attention...?" I prompted carefully.

"Attention, yes. But..." Misty bit her lip, looking helpless at me. "It's like we're still friends, _just friends_ , and not boyfriend and girlfriend. And that's not a bad thing, because I like spending time with Ash, but-" Aha, there was the rant, though I was still missing her usual fire. "But I like doing boyfriend and girlfriend things, too! I mean, he does try, sometimes he holds my hand and he even brought me flowers once, but it's all so..." She faltered, shrugging her shoulders and looking at me for help.

"Platonic?" I offered.

"Yes," Misty said after a beat of silence, nodding slowly. "Yes, yes, it's platonic..."

"And you don't want it to be?" I couldn't help but tease her tiny bit.

Misty didn't bite, and instead sounded completely serious when she replied, "Of course I don't want it to be. I'm his girlfriend, I should get more than just his friendship."

At noticing how genuinely upset she was about it, I felt bad about teasing her. I felt even worse when I realized that they had been together for quite some time and that she probably had been walking around with these feelings for a while now.

I fell back on one of my old pieces of advice. "Then tell him," I said. Communication was the key, after all, though I could imagine this was no easy topic to talk about.

"Tell him?" Misty repeated, incredulously. The unspoken 'Are you crazy?' was heard and dully noted anyway.

"Or show him," I amended. "Whenever he does do something non-platonic, make sure, really sure, he knows that you like and appreciate it. Or, of course, do something non-platonic yourself."

"I don't want to make him uncomfortable," she said, and yes, there was that indeed.

Had she already tried something? What had been Ash's reaction? Was Ash really so dense that he hadn't noticed, or he had scooted away, laughing nervously? Did he have any reason to be uncomfortable? I swallowed at that thought, and something heavy dropped in my stomach, something Misty must've been feeling this whole time.

What if this whole thing had been a mistake?

What if Ash had thought it all fun and games, what if he had honestly believed he was in love with Misty, because otherwise he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths as Hoenn, but now that the dust was settling he realized that perhaps this wasn't as he had imagined, that being in a relationship with Misty wasn't as he had expected-

No, no, that wasn't true. I physically shook my head as if that would help me get rid of the thoughts. I was panicking, I wasn't thinking clearly, I wasn't considering all the information I had. Misty had just said that he had brought her flowers and that he had held her hand, and that they were still doing and enjoying platonic, friends things.

Not to mention that Ash was a terrible liar, and I'd had more than enough conversations with Ash about Misty to know that he was still genuinely enjoying their time together.

"He does still like you," I said, absolute certainty in my voice. Misty's mask cracked a little, but she nodded anyway. "And you need to talk to him." Even if it did turn out that Ash didn't have any non-platonic feelings for Misty, well, they would still need to talk about it.

"Can't- Can't you just give him some hints, about being interested in me? Can't you talk to him?" It almost sounded as if she was pleading.

That alone made me almost agree, and I wanted to know the truth as well, but… it was their relationship. Their relationship, their troubles and their conversation they needed to have.

"Misty," I started carefully, "Because we're all friends, I will talk to him, but-" I quickly continued before Misty could thank me. "-this is _your_ relationship, and you two will need to solve this yourself. I can't help you with that."

Misty pulled a face.

"I know that's difficult," I continued to argue my point. "But communication is important and I'm not sure if you remember, but the last time I meddled in your relationship, we ended up in a plane crash, several emotional breakdowns, and really sucky quicksand." Yes, yes, that pun was intended.

Misty cracked a light smile at that, before averting her eyes. "I guess you're right." She let out a sigh and rubbed the side of her face.

"It doesn't have to be a bad conversation," I tried to reassure her. "It doesn't have to be dead serious and depressing. You could start with saying how much you have been enjoying your time together, gauge his reaction, see if Ash agrees, but that you perhaps would like to do more boyfriend and girlfriend things." I paused, then added after a moment of thought, "Remember, Misty, this is Ash we're talking about. He doesn't catch hints and subtlety, so you need to make things obvious and spell it out for him."

Misty didn't seem too happy with my tips, but she nodded anyway. I tried for an encouraging smile, hoping that the weight in my stomach didn't show in my expression. Misty responded in kind.

"That's the Misty I know," I said, overly cheerful. "Now go fight for your guy, Arceus knows you've gone through more than enough trouble to get him!"

Now finally a spark appeared back in Misty's eyes. "Most trouble was your fault, _remember?_ "

"Er..." I coughed, not needing to be reminded of that. Misty's fire dimmed again, but this time her smile seemed more genuine.

"Thanks, Brock."

I smiled back. "Anytime."

Misty's half-smiling visage disappeared from the screen after one last wave, and I sagged in my chair. Maybe that awkward talk with my father would've been better than this. Mew, what a mess... For several moments I sat like that, staring off into space and contemplating the situation, before deciding that yes, it was indeed a mess, but instead of being depressed about it, I might as well get to work and do something about it.

 _Besides..._ I got up, cracked the door open, and glanced into the hall and the kitchen. Dammit, Dad was still sitting at the table, talking to Timmy. As if he could feel my stare, Timmy looked up and enthusiastically waved.

"Hey Brock!" my brother called out, and now Dad also noticed me looking. I quickly straightened up and opened the door more fully, as not to look idiotic and suspicious. "Guess what," Timmy continued excitedly, "Because I finished my test already I got to leave early, cool, eh?"

Well, that explained that, at least. I smiled distractedly at Timmy as I walked into the kitchen. Dad looked at my questioningly, and I gave him a tense smile. "I still got a call to make, Dad, and Timmy's now home…" I trailed off, and I saw understanding – and disappointment – dawning in his eyes. At that, I smiled more genuinely. "I do appreciate your help, Dad, but I'll be fine."

"Huh? Brock, what are you talking about?" Timmy butted in.

"I understand," he said with a nod, a look in his eyes I couldn't really place. It almost seemed sad, but I couldn't really understand why. My rejection of his advice was really not that bad – we had gone through much worse – and his reaction was exaggerated.

"What? Dad, what's going on? What are you two talking about?" Timmy wouldn't be ignored, and before I could give an answer, Dad had turned to my brother.

With a sad smile patted his head. "Adult things, Timmy. Now, what were you saying?" A teasing smile wiped away his previous expression as if it was never there. "Something about a girl you were in love with, hm?"

As Timmy fiercely protested and was successfully distracted, I stayed rooted in place until Dad caught my eye and made a small movement with his head towards the door. Bemusedly, I followed his lead and walked back into the phone room. I had never quite realized how well of an actor Dad was, and something squirmed in my stomach as the implications of that slowly dawned on me.

I swallowed, pushing away my thoughts about Dad for now. Misty's worries were probably making me more paranoid than needed. And Misty's worries were at least something I could attempt to fix.

Sitting down in front of the videophone again, I took one deep breath before dialing the familiar number of the Ketchum residence.

"Mime?" Mrs. Ketchum's Pokémon picked up with its usual greeting.

"Hello, Mimey," I said. "Is Ash perhaps at home?"

"Mime, mime!" The Pokémon nodded after a moment of thought, and before I could thank it, it was already gone. I felt some relief at its confirmative answer. Though I knew that Ash was now in Pallet to enjoy his break from travelling and competitive battling, there had been quite a chance he wouldn't have been at home. Despite that it hadn't even been that long, he was already itching to get out of the house.

A minute or so later, Ash appeared. His cap and Pikachu were noticeably missing from his person. The absence of his cap was reasonable, as I knew that Delia tended to prefer that inside the house, but I could not explain his empty shoulder.

"Brock!" Ash beamed, seeming even more cheerful than usual. _Probably glad for a distraction_. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much, just calling to chat," I said, feeling a grin creep up my face. Ash's cheerfulness was, as always, contagious, though the churning in my stomach was a constant reminder of my mission. At least Ash didn't _look_ like he was in an internal conflict with himself about his best friend and girlfriend.

"Great, because to be honest, this staying at home is kind of starting to bore me. But don't tell Mom, she really loves having me here." He glanced worriedly around, before continuing, "Pikachu loves having a break as well, he's at Professor Oak's catching up with the other Pokémon. And I like it, too, of course, but..."

"You can't sit still, I know," I said, smiling. "I understand."

And I actually did understand him, I knew that restless feeling, had experienced it myself as well for several years. But with having to raise and take care of nine kids, there wasn't really an opportunity to leave. Until Dad came back, of course.

"Brock?"

I was pulled back to reality with a start, momentarily confused as Ash looked at me with concern.

"Sorry." I shook my head, forcing my thoughts on track again. "What were we talking… oh yeah, you can't sit still." I smiled, and Ash relaxed again.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I can't help it."

Nodding in agreement, I easily moved the conversation in the right direction, "But when you're travelling again, you won't see Misty as much." His shoulders sagged and his smile diminished, a wistful look in his eyes. With the knowledge that Ash was a horrible actor, the knot in my gut loosened at that reaction.

"Yeah, I know." His voice had gotten softer, and he sighed. "It, well… I really don't like it. It… it sucks. She's one of my best friends and we're finally seeing each other a lot again- And I really did try to get her to travel with me again, but with the Gym and all… And I understand that," he quickly added. "It just, you know, sucks."

It wasn't often that Ash expressed himself about what he didn't like – he complained about trivial things, absolutely, but with all other things he was all like keep quiet, put on a smile and go on. It wasn't a pretense, but Ash just always managed to look at the bright side of things. Already an excited smile was back on his face. "But she said she'll come visit me at some point, and we managed for five years, so I'm sure we can do it again."

I nodded, smiling sympathetically at him. While unhappy about life separating them, Ash otherwise didn't appear to feel that way about his and Misty's relationship. "How are things with Misty, anyway?"

Confusion made him frown for a moment, before he answered, "Oh, Misty is doing well, a bit busy with the Gym, but that's going well, too, so she can't complain, I guess." He shrugged, a grin appearing on his face. "Of course she still complains, but that's nothing new."

I laughed distractedly at his joke. That hadn't been the information I was looking for, though. I tried again, this time waggling my eyebrows suggestively. "Of course... But what I meant is, _how are things with Misty?_ "

Ash raised his eyebrows. "You just said the exact same thing, only now your eyebrows did this weird thing," he pointed out, before trying to imitate my 'weird eyebrow thing' in an exaggerated matter. I would like to point out that I had not looked that idiotic.

"I mean..." I repeated, wiping the vaguely offended look from my face. "How are things progressing in your relationship with Misty? You know…" I did my weird eyebrow thing again. _"Romantically."_

"Uh…" A blush crept up his face, and his eyes shifted. He swallowed, before echoing in a much higher voice, "Romantically?"

Huh, I had not expected him to be this embarrassed. "Yes, romantically," I repeated, smiling slyly. "Like kissing…"

Ash continued to shift in his chair, wringing his hands together and constantly wetting his lips. "Well, uh…" He swallowed again, and was he starting to sweat? "We've been on dates, you know... Those were fun!" He picked up speed as he started to rattle off his tale about their dates. "We went swimming, and we've battled several times, Misty is good, you know-"

"Hold on," I said, holding up one hand. Ash immediately stopped.

Something was off. I felt it, and I narrowed my eyes at Ash. His eyes were wide in his red face, but when I caught his eye he quickly looked away.

I pressed my lips together in thought, watching him wriggle and sweat for a moment. This wasn't just embarrassment. My eyes momentarily widened in realization, before looking back at the boy in suspicion.

Ash was lying.

Or rather, I thought as I considered that everything he had told me rang true, he was hiding something.

"Ash…" His head snapped back to me so fast that it must have hurt. A note of amusement crept in my voice at that, though the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach had only intensified. "What are you not telling me?"

"Not- not telling you?" he spluttered, almost squeaked. "I'm not- I mean, uh…"

"Ash," I said, gentling my voice. "If you tell me, maybe I can help you, hm?"

He shook his head, indirectly confirming that he was indeed hiding something – as if that hadn't been obvious enough.

His discomfort was obvious enough as well, and I felt compelled to leave the conversation at this. But that wouldn't help him. In almost everything, Ash would face his problems head on, and only with matters like these he seemed to prefer sticking his head in the sand.

"It's about Misty," I stated, still quietly. When Ash didn't say anything, I pressed, "Right?"

He looked back up at me, and nodded quickly. I pressed my lips together when he averted his eyes again. How far could I go?

Not much further, I realized. He might not draw the conclusion right now, but if I mentioned kissing, then Ash would eventually figure out that Misty had told me something. I didn't want to do that to either of them.

Ash would have to tell me himself.

"Ash," I said, completely serious, and he raised his eyes to meet mine again. "Ash," I repeated, "You're one my best friends, you know." I almost smiled at his surprise that I was choosing this very moment to go mushy. "And I hate seeing you like this. I want to help you. And maybe I can't," I quickly added when he opened his mouth to protest, "but I want to try. And even if it doesn't work out, you might even feel better just by talking about it."

He swallowed, and I waited anxiously for his reaction, my insides twisting themselves up. He looked away from me, and I felt my heart drop, but then Ash spoke up.

"I… Misty and I…" he started falteringly, before blurting out, "We don't kiss a lot."

I waited for him to continue, but he appeared not to know how and I gave him a push in the right direction. "Do you not like kissing her?"

"No, no, that's not it!" he quickly said, and I felt relief course through me. That was already something. "It's just..." Ash gestured helplessly. "I just… I mean... I don't really..." The last bit was nothing but a mere whisper and I had to strain my ears to hear the quick murmur. "...know how."

Laughter bubbled up – not at Ash, but at the simplicity of the situation – but I held it in. _Don't ruin it now,_ _this is resolvable, this could be helped, but keep your head in the game, Brocko._

Because, really, I could actually help him here. Ash would take advice from me, and that was all he needed, some advice and some confidence.

The heavy pressure of the situation had lifted with that knowledge, and it was easy to fall back on my teasing. "You seemed pretty good back in Hoenn, though," I remarked, and Ash looked away, pinching his lips and his eyes narrowing.

Alright, maybe teasing wasn't a smart move. I didn't need to make it harder for him. "Sorry, I just mean… You didn't seem to have a problem with it before."

"That was different," he said, turning back to me, and perhaps it was.

And perhaps it wasn't.

"Ash, kissing isn't something you can learn from books, you learn from experience, and no one is the perfect kisser at the first try." I actually wasn't sure about that last part, but this would reassure Ash at least.

"But what if she thinks I'm terrible?" he blurted.

Yeah, confidence was all he needed. Good thing he had me.

"It's Misty. You're best friends. She can be rude and say stupid things, but she won't tease you about something like this." I could have said that with absolutely certainty even if I hadn't had a conversation with Misty before.

When Ash nodded tersely, I added, "Besides, she's just as inexperienced and unsure about this as you are. Relax, be yourself-" _Wow, real_ useful _advice, Brocko._ "-and breathe through your nose."

At the last bit, he perked up. "Breathe through my nose, right." He nodded quickly, then looked at me eagerly.

Maybe I should have taken Dad on that advice anyway. How was I supposed to help Ash if I hardly knew anything myself? Well, _hardly…_ The only things I knew I had either seen in movies or had read in my sisters' girly magazines – not that I enjoyed reading them or anything, it was just good to know as much about the fairer sex as possible.

And anyway, Ash didn't need to know that I didn't have any actual experience.

"Well, you should turn your head a little, to prevent a nose-collision. Turn the opposite direction Misty is turning. Believe me, you'll see," I clarified when Ash continued to look confused. He nodded, then, and I went on, "Don't drool too much. Make sure you don't have a smelly breath – use peppermint or something like that beforehand and avoid garlic. Don't go in to hard, or you'll knock your teeth together. Don't bite, unless she wants you to-"

"What?" Ash squeaked, and perhaps I was moving too fast for this poor boy.

"Forget I said that. Just relax. Remember, it's Misty. You can talk to her about this. Communication is-"

"-the key, yes, I know." Hm, perhaps I had mentioned that particular piece of wisdom more often.

"You'd do well to remember it." I playfully narrowed my eyes at him, before smiling encouragingly. "You can do this, Ash."

In response, Ash pushed his shoulders backward and jutted his chin out, a determined smile on his face. "You're right. I can." The remaining doubt in his eyes was fiercely pushed away. "I can do this. I totally can."

"Good luck." I smiled, and he beamed at me.

"Thanks, Brock."

* * *

There was light coming from the window, and I frowned. Dad usually never waited for me to return from my outings – in this case, my most recent date with Lucy at a fancy restaurant. Admittedly, I didn't remember much of the food, as Lucy had easily been much more interesting.

Much, _much_ more interesting.

That thought distracted me enough to pause in front of the door, momentarily losing my head in the clouds, before the buzzing of my phone pulled me back.

My eyebrows creased in confusion as I pulled my phone out – who would text me at a time like this – when a second buzz indicated another text message.

The first one was from Misty, and the second came from Ash. My confusion melted away – either something had gone really bad or really good on their date – and after quickly scanning their short but grateful messages, a grin crept on my face.

It appeared that tonight was a good night for dates.

Still smiling, I slipped my phone back in my pocket and walked inside.

"Was it fun?" Dad's voice rang through the house and almost startled me. I let out a shaky breath, put my jacket away and walked into the lit living room before answering.

"Yes," I said slowly, unable to stop the grin from spreading on my face. "Yes, it was a lot of fun."

"Good, good…" Dad nodded. It looked like he was hesitating – and remembering our conversation two days early with a panicked rush of adrenaline – I blurted out, "Dad, no need for your advice anymore."

He stared at me for a long moment, flabbergasted – either because he had thought I wouldn't do, or because he hadn't expected me to actually tell him (and believe me, I hadn't been planning on it). He got up from his chair, a strange sort of grin on his face when he slapped me on my shoulder with a bit more force than needed.

He almost looked… proud. It was easy to smile back at him, and we stayed like that for several moments, his hand on my shoulder and both smiling at each other.

Then awkwardness started to set in, and with a cough I interrupted our father-son moment. "Well, it was a long night, I'm going to bed," I announced.

"Y-yeah, of course." He squeezed my shoulder before letting go. "Goodnight, Brock."

I stared at his retreating back and watched how he closed the door behind him. "Goodnight, Dad."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear from you if you enjoyed it, and if you didn't enjoy it, well, I wouldn't say I'd love to hear from you, but I would appreciate hearing your comments, too :D Anyway, thank you very much for reading, and see you guys in three weeks!

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Rainbow's End_ by _The Light's Refrain_. **FFN.** A one-shot that's very appropriately labeled as a tragedy. It paints the games in a darker light, and it was a bit disconcerting to read, but still a great piece. Check it out!

 **Pokémon:** _100 Themes, 100 Shippings_ by _Midori12_. **FFN.** What the title says :P It's a collection of short stories and one-shots, each with a theme and a Shipping. It's sweet and it's sad and it actually has a little bit of everything. It isn't finished yet, so you can go ahead and request things, that's fun as well :D

 **Harry Potter:** _Help Me, Please_ by _Sarcastic-Bones_. **FFN**. Another multi-chaptered story for all the Rose and Scorpius lovers out there. Sorry guys, hope this doesn't get repetitive, I just really like them :P Anyway, Rose enters her last year at Hogwarts and everything is going wonderful until Scorpius becomes Head Boy. And that just complicates everything :P

Anyway, my list of recommendations is getting shorter and shorter, so if you want to recommend anything, I'd love to hear from you!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Woo, another chapter! Once again with some teenage themes, by the way. Thank you very much for your support, I'm incredibly grateful to all of you. Without you guys, this story wouldn't be like it's now. So thank you, and please enjoy this chapter!

To _Guest_ : Thank you very much! They're really cute together, yeah :D I hope you like this chapter as well!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 4**

My phone buzzed on the table, our drinks vibrating ever so slightly along with it. I had been rummaging through my bag to find a paper for Lucy to have a look at, as we had been talking about my study and I wanted to show her my research.

 _"Again."_ I sighed, ignoring my phone and instead pulling my backpack on my lap to get a better look at its contents. "Probably those commercial texts, I somehow got stuck with those and I have no idea how to turn it off. Just delete it," I said dismissingly. "Aha!" I finally found the paper I had been looking for.

The paper contained my tentative subject for my thesis. At the beginning of the year – inspired by my second Gym battle against Ash – I had been planning on writing my thesis about magnetism and the possible healing or other effects on Electric types. But after seeing how Bun-Bun had developed and combined with my knowledge and interest in Breeding, doubt had started to creep in. My contact with Reggie these past few weeks had convinced me, and I had decided to go for it and start all over – this time about the differences between the development of baby Pokémon with or without two parental figures in their lives.

Although my new topic had not been officially accepted yet, I had already done quite a lot of preparations. What little literature there was on this subject I'd researched, and I had set up a tentative plan for an experiment. Besides approval from my supervising professor, I would also need financial support, and that last one would undoubtedly be more challenging.

I straightened out the pages, but when I wanted to hand them to Lucy, I saw her staring at my phone with raised eyebrows.

Uh-oh. I guess that that text wasn't a commercial text after all.

"What is it?"

Lucy hesitated ( _oh dear, which idiot had sent me what stupid message now?_ ) but then read out loud, "Can I pwease have some new shoes? I luv you and your the best xoxoxoxo love love love from Yolanda."

She gave me a look, but before I could explain, my phone buzzed again and Lucy's eyes went back to the screen. "I luv u i luv u i luv u please i want new shoes two your the best xoxoxoxo i'll be real nice when your home lots of luv Cindy."

"Oh Arceus," I rubbed my forehead, before extending my hand. "C'mon here, I'll text them back."

Shaking my head slightly, I accepted the phone from a befuddled Lucy, before proceeding to explain, "They can't have new shoes, we already talked about this, but of course they were going to try anyway." Quickly I finished up typing a loving but very definite _no_.

Yolanda had come home for several days and had taken Cindy out for shopping. Or rather, window-shopping, because Dad and I were still discussing a clothing allowance. Despite that some of the kids were on their Pokémon journeys, we were still a big family, and that was painfully visible in our finances.

When I put my phone back on the table again, I caught Lucy's eye and realized she was still looking at me strangely.

"What...?" Oh Arceus, please let there not be something on my face.

"Who were you texting?" she asked, genuinely sounding confused.

Slowly, uncomprehendingly, I said, "My sisters..."

"Your… sisters?" Her eyes widened, and she put her fist in her palm. "Cindy… And Yolanda is your sister as well? I thought you had just three!" She sounded incredulous, and strangely enough, relieved.

"Huh… Have I really never mentioned them?" My eyebrows furrowed together, before disregarding the question and explaining to Lucy, "Yeah, I have four younger sisters, and five younger brothers. You met Cindy, Suzie, Timmy, and Billy and Tilly – those are the twins – and the older ones are out travelling: Forrest, Salvadore, Tommy, and Yolanda-" I gestured to the phone on the table. "-who just texted me for new shoes, because she's home for a few days and out shopping with Cindy."

When hesitant recognition began to dawn on Lucy's face, I took my phone again, scrolled through the pictures until I had one of all my siblings together, and then handed Lucy the phone. "Here. Up there on the left is Yolanda, and in the middle, a bit to the right is Cindy."

"Oh wow…" she stared at the screen with wide eyes.

"Yeah, they can be a little overwhelming…" I admitted, an apologetic undertone in my voice. The last thing I wanted was to scare Lucy away with my extended family.

"Yeah, I can imagine…" A hesitant smile made its way on her face. "They're cute. You all look like each other."

"They're little monsters," I corrected her, grinning, and Lucy let out a short laugh at that as she handed me back my phone.

"This is going to sound stupid…" Lucy started, looking away from me. "But I was thinking for a moment that Yolanda and Cindy were other girlfriends of yours."

I stared at her.

"I mean, I know you wouldn't do that- uh, I mean, I thought I knew because we haven't been dating for that long, so it's not like I _really_ know you already-" she rambled in an attempt to explain herself. "I mean, the texts, if you don't know they're from your sisters, it does sound a bit like they could be from your girlfriends asking for money, and, and- Mew, I'm messing this up, I'm so sorry."

Lucy hid her reddening face in her hands, and I was too stunned to take advantage of the silence. She looked back at me, her eyes wide. "I'm really sorry. My friend… she's been going through a really bad break-up, and she keeps going on about how you can't trust a guy, and I-" She made a helpless gesture. "I'm really sorry, Brock. I'm sure I would have realized that as soon as I thought about it more, and I just wasn't _thinking_ right now-"

"Lucy, Lucy," I finally interrupted her gently in her overreaction. "Calm down, it's not a big deal. Misunderstandings happen. I understand, we haven't been seeing each other for long, and-"

"I'm still really sorry for thinking that, it's unfair to project things like that on you-"

"Lucy, really, don't worry about," I tried to reassure her, and to stop her stream of apologies. Really, I understood. "I'm not offended. After all..." I grinned, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "I'm an attractive guy."

It took a moment longer, but then Lucy relaxed and let out a bit of a nervous giggle, and after another moment hesitation, she swatted my arm playfully. "And so modest."

"Absolutely." My grin widened.

"But just to be clear," I said, turning more serious again. "I don't have another girlfriend, just you- If you want to be, of course," I hastily added when I realized what I was suggesting. We had never talked about our official relationship status before, and I hadn't planned on bringing it up now, but since it was now out in the open…

I took her hand and couldn't help the hopeful smile that was creeping up my face when I looked at her beaming face. It was easy to respond in kind, and then Lucy bent over the table to meet my lips. A colony of Butterfree was suddenly released in my stomach, and it was easy to get lost in the kiss, but since we were in public, we pulled away after a moment. My grin was almost painful, and she squeezed my hand.

"On this subject," I finally said, smiling playfully, "you don't have any other boyfriends either, do you?"

She laughed and squeezed my hand again. "Nope. Not even any close male friends, just some acquaintances. Oh, and there's of course my brother, we're close, but you already know him. You wouldn't mistake him for my boyfriend." She laughed lightly at her own joke.

I sweatdropped. "Uh… well, actually…" I grinned sheepishly, and scratched the back of my neck when Lucy looked at me with a confused smile. "I _might_ have done that back when I saw you two together in Hoenn..." To save some of my dignity, I quickly added, "Of course I barely knew you then..."

Lucy stared at me for a moment, a blank expression on her face, before letting out a laugh. She patted my hand. "Brock…" She shook her head, still grinning. "Don't worry about it, you won't believe how many times that actually happened. We don't look much like each other, do we? Oliver is the perfect way to get rid of unwanted suitors without having to outright tell them." Her eyes widened, and she quickly clarified, "Oh, not that I meant that you were an unwanted suitor."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I get it." I smiled. "So no male friends who could accidentally become the innocent victim of my jealousy?"

"Nope, none." She looked at me. "You?"

"Male friends?" I joked, before properly answering, "Well, you have Misty, of course, you know her, the Gym Leader of Cerulean City. She's the closest female friend I have, I travelled with her for years, she's like a sister to me." An annoying, very violent sister, but one I cared very much about anyway. "May is a Coordinator from Hoenn, the daughter of Petalburg Gym Leader in Hoenn, and Dawn is a Coordinator from Sinnoh. I travelled with May, her younger brother and Ash through Hoenn and Kanto, and with Dawn and Ash through Sinnoh."

Lucy hummed, before asking, "And those other two girls you mentioned, the ones you travelled with to Hoenn recently? Iris and... Leaf?" She frowned as she recalled their names.

"Yeah, Iris and Leaf," I confirmed. "I met them on the way to Hoenn. They're more Ash's friends, so I'm not that close to them."

After Lucy nodded in understanding, we fell silent. After several moments I remembered the paper that was still in lap, and I asked, "Any other questions, my lady? I still got this paper, you see." I straightened out the slightly creased surface and when Lucy's eyes lit up, I handed her the pages.

"Thank you, it's really cool that you can use your Breeding expertise here again," Lucy said, as she carefully put the paper in her bag. She stopped, looking back up at me. "I can take it with me, right? I mean, if you need it-"

"No, no, I have everything on my laptop," I reassured her. I hadn't expected her to take it with her, but it wasn't a problem.

"Good." Lucy smiled in relief and closed her bag. "I'd like to read it properly, so-"

My phone buzzed again.

Lucy closed her mouth and followed my stare to the phone. "Max?" she read the name on the screen.

Grinning slightly, I picked up the phone and showed her the caller ID – a picture of an obviously male person. "May's younger brother," I explained quickly, "Sorry, I-" I gestured to the still buzzing phone, and when Lucy smiled understandingly I took the call.

Whatever Max was calling me for, I was sure that it could wait. C'mon people, I just wanted a date that wasn't constantly interrupted by siblings or friends or Croagunk, that shouldn't be so difficult, right?

"Brock!" Max's panicked voice came through loudly, and I held the device a bit further from my ear in reflex. Even though my reasonable mind told me that it was highly probable he was being melodramatic, my insides turned cold anyway.

"You've got to help-" He stopped short in his plea. "Can you turn on the visual? Brock? You've got to turn on the visual!"

Now even my reasonable mind was having some trouble conjuring up a plausible explanation for Max's behavior, and befuddled and somewhat infected by Max's panic, I did as he told me.

I was met with a very odd sight.

It was indeed Max, but his hair was a mess, his glasses broken and askew on his head, and his usual calm expression was definitely missing. But perhaps even more surprising was the person next to him, and I felt my mouth fall open.

Drew. His usually neat green hair was in a similar condition as Max's, and beneath his left eye a dark bruise was blossoming.

"What…" I asked slowly as soon as I had regained control of my emotions, _"is going on?"_

Though physically looking far worse than the younger boy, Drew seemed more collected and answered dryly, "We might have a problem."

" _I_ have a problem," Max bit out, turning to glare at Drew. " _You_ however are way too relaxed in this situation. Do you realize that all my Pokémon are inside and that it's going to freaking freeze out here? Not to mention I can barely see with these things!" He gestured angrily at his glasses.

Something flickered in Drew's eyes. " _You_ were the one who _attacked_ first-"

"Okay, hold on, hold on, what the heck is going on?" These two boys were making no sense, and a bright idea came to me. "Can you get May?" I asked hopefully.

Drew snorted. "That's kind of our problem."

"What's going on?" Lucy's hesitant whisper pulled my attention from the small screen. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, a crisis... I think. I'm still not sure what's going on. Do you mind if I...?" I wasn't sure what to ask, _do you mind if I continue talking to them and interrupting our date?_ Lucy seemed to understand anyway and nodded. "It won't take long," I promised, getting up from my chair to go somewhere with more privacy when Drew and Max's discussion was getting progressively louder.

"Hold on." I glanced to the screen, but neither of them appeared to hear me. I quickly made my way through the café to the door, and then stepped out in the relative quiet chill of the street.

"Now." I turned my full attention to the two boys on the screen, who still appeared to arguing amongst themselves. "Hey!" They finally stopped to look at me, and I ordered, "Tell me everything. From the beginning."

They looked at each other, and Max nodded shortly at Drew.

"Alright," Drew said, running a hand through his hair which only resulted in a bigger mess. "Max is convinced you can help us, so I hope he's right. Especially for his sake."

"Tell me."

"I got here a few hours ago – May and I were planning on travelling together once the season starts here-" I nodded in acknowledgement; May had already told me this. "-and I just came here to go over some stuff, talk about our route a little bit, look through the data with the Contests when and where..." I raised my eyebrows slightly, and Drew apparently took this as his cue to defend himself with a stiff, "I like to plan ahead."

I nodded, mentally noting that Drew's planning tendencies would fit May's impulsiveness well. He continued, "We were discussing things in her room, planning things, and I was trying to convince May to visit the Meteor Falls Cave. May didn't want to, and I did, and that's what we were discussing when Max walked in. He jumped to the wrong conclusion, hit me, I pushed him off-"

"Wait, wait, you lost me there," I interrupted him when he picked up speed and lost clarity. "What _wrong conclusion_ could you possibly get from that?" _What right conclusion, even?_

"In essence, the things Drew told you are the truth. However, he's also _not telling_ you a few things." Max shot him a look. "I was bringing them something to drink-"

My eyebrows shot up. Sure, Max was a nice boy, but _bringing his sister and her date something to drink?_ Even if that date was Drew, it was incredibly odd. Max flushed. "Look, I have a perfectly good reason to bring them something to drink-"

"-which would be that Mr. and Mrs. Maple are out, and they don't trust us." Drew smoothly interrupted.

"They don't trust _you_ ," Max shot back. "It has nothing to do with May."

Despite that my information was still lacking I was already drawing my own conclusion. If I remembered correctly, it was the annual Gym Leader Conference in Hoenn, always just before the start of the season, and undoubtedly that was where their parents had gone. And as the ever protective parent – since I strongly doubted that Mrs. Maple had anything to do with it – Norman had asked his son to keep an eye on his sister's boyfriend and to make sure those two weren't too long alone.

"Right, right," I nodded, interrupting another of their squabbles before it could really begin. "So you were bringing them something to drink, what happened?"

"I saw," Max said slowly, "Drew sitting on the ground, on one knee, holding a ring and asking May to marry him."

I gaped at both of them.

Drew rolled his eyes, before halting mid-movement with a wince. "That's what he _saw_. Or what he thought he saw. Something completely different was going on."

I was still gaping at them, but finally forced out a very important question. " _What_ , in the name of Arceus, were you doing for Max to think you were _asking May to marry you?"_

"It's a stupid misunderstanding," he said simply. "I was still trying to convince May to go to the Meteor Falls Cave, who was playing with something in her hands, she dropped it, I went to pick it up, I was still talking when I was getting up, and _that's_ when Max walked in."

I looked at him blankly, an inkling of understanding seeping through but still too vague.

Drew clarified, "I was on one knee because I was getting up, I was holding a ring because that was what she had dropped and I was asking her if she would please go to the Cave, but I couldn't finish my sentence because Max came in. And he jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"You were sitting on one knee in front of May with a ring and you were asking if she would please-!"

"-Come with me to the Meteor Falls Cave," Drew finished coolly.

This fantastical story warranted another blank stare.

"It sounds ridiculous, yes," Drew said, smirking and successfully managing to flip his messed-up hair, while Max grimaced. "But it's actually, genuinely, _really_ true."

"Right..." I said slowly, still trying to comprehend it. "And then..?" A suspicion had already started to form in my mind, but I wasn't about to jump to conclusions in _this_ case.

"Then I hit him a black eye," Max said, his pride poorly concealed.

"In self-defense," Drew quickly continued, "I pushed him away and he tripped, falling and breaking his glasses."

"Okay," I said slowly, processing this. So far, it was still... extremely strange, but it did make sense. Norman had told Max to keep an eye on his sister and her boyfriend, Max had done so, had seen May and Drew in a compromising position – though fortunately in a completely other sense than was usually suggested with that phrase – and had hit him. Drew had pushed him off and Max had fallen, resulting in his broken glasses.

That still did not explain why they were calling me now.

"But you two seem to understand now that there's been a misunderstanding, so… what's the problem?"

"Well... May wasn't too happy," Max said, sounding as if he was carefully picking his words.

Drew snorted. "She was _furious_." He grew serious again. "I admit that, ah, I might have been a bit… pushing her, with the Meteor Falls Cave thing, so she was already wired up, and then Max attempted to play the protective brother..."

"And Drew laughed at her, and I said something, and he said something, and then she became really, really angry. Especially at Drew," Max added with slight satisfaction, but his amusement was gone with his next words, "But it was… it was really serious, she was furious, I swear I thought I saw flames in her eyes."

Yes, I could imagine that, the few instances I had seen May completely livid were definitely memorable – usually it'd had something to do with either Max, her Pokémon or food. May was a sweet girl, but fierce when she needed to be.

Still, May might be furious, but she'd calm down soon enough, especially when she realized this was all a big misunderstanding and maybe some apologies…

"Well, just apologize," I offered as advice. "Explain and apologize, I'm sure May will see reason when she's calmed down a bit."

"I don't think... I don't think it'll be that easy," Max said hesitantly, avoiding my eye.

"O-kay. Why not?" I had no time for patience; Lucy was still waiting for me plus it was freaking _cold_ outside.

"Uh, like I said, we said some stupid things…." Max continued, sheepishly. Drew was looking everywhere but at me. "I said something about her overreacting, and Drew told her to calm down and uh…" He glanced at Drew. "…something really, _really_ stupid."

Max fell silent after that and didn't seem inclined to tell me what this 'something really, _really_ stupid' had been, his gaze back on the ground. I turned my narrowed eyes at Drew, who shifted uncomfortably and even seemed to turn a bit red.

"Uh..." he started, uncharacteristically faltering. "I admit that I was… not in the best mood, and I was not really thinking clearly-"

"You could definitely say that," Max snorted in amusement.

I raised my eyebrow, and if Drew hadn't appeared uncomfortable before, he definitely was now.

"I asked… Ah, I asked if there was reason she was being so emotional…" He pressed his lips together, before clarifying, "A biological reason."

I stared at him, his eyes begging me to please not make him spell it out, before everything clicked.

"Oh." Yeah, yeah, that was stupid. A woman was allowed to blame her emotions on hormones, but oh woe the male who would suggest the same thing. "Yeah, that's stupid."

Max nodded earnestly and Drew looked at the ground.

I coughed. "So uh, what happened... after...?" I wondered if I even wanted to know. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"May... exploded." Max looked dead serious. "She kicked us out of the house, yelled at us to leave her and her hormones alone if we thought that she was a weak women and a slave to her hormones who needed to be protected by her men, or something to that effect anyway, and then she locked us out."

"That's... a rather strong reaction," I said slowly.

"Only proves that she really _is_ a slave to her emotions-"

"Don't say that," Max hissed at Drew, "she might hear you and I would like to get back inside before it gets even colder and dark, yeah?"

It was really a strong reaction, extremely so, nothing I had expected from May. She could get angry, yeah, and yell, too, definitely, but going as far as locking them out of the house? That was new, more something I'd have expected rom Misty-

Wait a minute, hadn't Misty mentioned that she and May had been keeping in touch? Dammit, it would have been really something for Misty to give May feminist 'advice' about standing up for herself and to show those men that she won't be messed with.

"Misty, what did you do…" I muttered to myself.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing…" I shook my head. "Just something I thought of. Nothing important."

Drew raised an eyebrow but let it go. "Anyway, we were hoping you might be able to help us. Get us back in the house, so I can properly apologize to May and so that I can explain..." He trailed off, unsure about what exactly he wanted to explain.

"And so that we can explain we never meant it like that," Max filled in the rest, before shooting Drew a look. "And however you're going to explain your stupid comment is certainly not _my_ problem, just do it fast. I'm freezing!"

I bit back my own comment about how it was freezing here, too, and that I had a date to get back to as well.

"I do have my Pokémon," Drew said coolly, ignoring Max, "but I would rather avoid open warfare."

"Diplomacy it is, then," I said dryly. "And I suppose I should be the one waving the white flag, not?"

"She doesn't pick up the phone if she sees it's one of our numbers, we already tried," Drew explained.

I glanced back at the café with a wishful look in my eyes, before my resigned sigh appeared in the air as a small white puff.

"And what terms should I offer?"

"Our apologies," Max said straight away. "And my compliance to tell Dad that May doesn't need anyone to protect her, that she is an independent woman and that it is old-fashioned and sexist for a brother to have to keep an eye out for his sister and her boyfriend, because we should trust her that she can make her own right decisions."

Impressive. He had definitely thought about this.

I nodded in satisfaction. "That should be enough." Especially if Max was as serious about it as he had sounded. The boy wasn't stupid, and whether or not he agreed with his words, he was willing to grovel and let go of his pride to get back inside. This was a battle he couldn't win.

 _No man could,_ I thought wryly.

"And you, Drew?" I turned my examining gaze to the older teenager. "What do you have to say?"

"My apologies, of course," he said, simply. "It was out of line for me to say something like that, and that I would like to explain-"

"Save that for later," Max advised, and once again I agreed with his wisdom.

"Right... uh," Drew hesitated, looking somewhat helpless. A rare sight, indeed.

"You probably should forget about going to the Meteor Falls Cave," I offered. "Tell her that she can pick where to go, that that's the least thing you owe her."

Drew looked torn and rebellious. "But..."

"Look, if you want her to forgive you without too much of a hassle, you better swallow your pride and bend to her will – and later, when you're close to the Cave and this situation is miles and weeks away, try again. Okay?"

That boy had really no experience with women. Not that I had had much experience with women in relationships, but when you made a mistake like this, you better just surrender and hope for the best.

Drew nodded tersely, and a few moments of silence followed as he considered his next words. "Tell her that I'm really sorry," he started, weighing his words carefully, "and that I completely deserve her anger. It was very wrong of me to say something like that, because I definitely don't think she's weak nor that she needs to be protected, because as she has just shown she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself." The boy was learning, yes, definitely learning. "And that she can choose where we'll go, because that's the least I can do to make it up to her. And that I will take her out to dinner and that I will pay-" Max already opened his mouth to interrupt, but Drew was faster. "But not because she's weak or anything or incapable of paying for her own dinner, but because I want to do it to show her how much I appreciate her."

I digested his words, before deeming them worth a try and nodded in approval. "I think that should be sufficient."

Silence fell, before-

"I never want a girlfriend," Max declared.

I grinned wryly at that, and even Drew looked somewhat amused, shaking his head slightly.

For what felt like the nth time, I glanced back at the café, something wriggling in my guts and urging me to hurry this along, because before long, Lucy would be gone…

I turned back to the screen. "I do admit, this is kind of a... strong reaction. I think May has been talking to Misty."

Drew's face lit up in realization. "Misty?" There was both a touch of wonder and horror in his voice. Undoubtedly he was remembering her and her explosion on the Night of the Big Revelations (as I had begun calling it in my mind). "That... explains a lot."

"Anyway," I said, moving on with this conversation. As soon as I had fixed this, I could back to my own girlfriend (how cool is it that I can say that now, eh? Really cool, just admit it). "I'll call May, repeat your messages and hope to reason with her."

"Good luck," Max said, dryly.

"Hopefully she's calmed down by now," Drew muttered, and I found myself hoping that for my own sake as well. Still, no matter how much she might try to act like her, May was no Misty. Misty could certainly continue to reason with herself that what she had done was in no way an overreaction and that they had deserved it and that she was right – she had proved to be that hardheaded at multiple occasions – but May might be dense at times, she wasn't stupid nor a good liar, thus common sense would kick in soon.

Or so I hoped anyway.

"I'll update you later," I said, and they nodded grimly.

After ending the call, I momentarily wondered if I should go back to Lucy, to tell her that this might take a while and perhaps even offer that she'd go home… But no, I would not admit defeat. I was going to enjoy my date with Lucy today, and I would fix this thing with May, Max and Drew. I was Brocko, the greatest matchmaker of Kanto, I could do everything, all at the same time if I had to!

Okay, perhaps I wasn't _that_ good, but I was good enough to handle these situations.

I searched through my contacts, before settling on the number of the Petalburg Gym and the Maple's house. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized with a regretful pang that all these interregional calls were going to make this afternoon more expensive than I had counted on.

"…should start asking money for all the effort I'm going through to fix their relationship problems," I grumbled to myself, and a passerby gave me a curious glance. I coughed and quickly looked back at the screen.

It took quite a while, but in the end there was a hesitant "Hello?" on the other side. The visual stayed off. "Brock?"

"Hey, May," I said with forced cheer. No need to worry her about me having contact with the enemy so early on in the conversation, for if she was really taking advice from Misty, she would only end the call.

"Hey, Brock," she repeated, and it was obvious to me that she was trying to sound as if nothing was wrong. It was really a disadvantage for her that I was so good with reading people's emotions – that's what you got when you were an experienced matchmaker like _moi_ – not to mention that May was such a bad liar in the first place.

"How are things?" I asked, quasi casually.

"Ah, nothing special, nothing special, heh, heh." She laughed nervously. "But I'm kinda a bit busy, so..."

Oh no, she was not going to scramble out. Time to bring out the big guns.

"May," I said, my voice dropping in complete seriousness, "I talked with Max and Drew."

Silence.

I quickly continued, words flying out to keep her attention. "Please listen to me, okay? They're really, _really_ sorry. And they would really like to talk to you. Max mentioned something about talking with your father about being wrong and Drew said something about not going to the Meteor Falls Cave... May?"

I hesitated when there was no reply, but ploughed on anyway. "They were completely panicked, they had no idea what to do. And despite being a man, you know that I'm rational and have a good morale and conscience, right?" I looked at the black screen intently, wishing May would turn on the visual. I had no idea if I was on the right track with this, if my message was getting across, if May was even still there at all...

"May?" A note of uncertainty crept in my voice. After all, it would be a good solution to just let me talk and not listen, maybe even muting it, and this way no one else would be able to call her, and-

"I'm still here." Her voice was quiet, but then, thank Arceus, the screen flickered on. May's brown hair was a bit disheveled and her eyes were still slightly red, but otherwise she looked no different.

We stared at each other for a while, May's thoughts a mystery to me as I contemplated my next move.

Surprisingly enough, May spoke first, "I kinda overreacted, I think."

Yes, thank Arceus that May was nothing like Misty.

"Just… a little." I allowed myself a small grin. A weight was lifted off my shoulders; perhaps this could be resolved quickly after all. "They're out of line, I agree with you. But… I think they have suffered enough, hm?"

May's doubt was obvious on her face. "Ah... perhaps..." She hesitated momentarily, considering her options and I found myself doing the same.

Drew and Max wouldn't wait outside forever, even if for now they'd seemed willing to entertain it. But at some point, Drew would go home, and Max would call their parents. If Drew left like this, it would have consequences for their relationship, and whether or not she wanted to risk that for what was in the end only a trivial thing… And when their parents would come home, they would undoubtedly judge May for her immaturity, and she would lose the respect of her parents. And Max, despite that his own maturity would be questioned as well, would come out better, because he had not resorted to violently locking out his sibling, now had he?

May swallowed, and slowly nodded. "Yes… yes, it's been long enough, right?" She looked at me, as if expecting me to tell her that she was making the right decision.

"I knew you were smarter than those two," I confirmed. May didn't comment, maybe realizing that all three of them had been in the wrong. Which was true, neither of them had thought about their words or actions, and there was no win or lose in something like this, just acceptance, forgiveness and moving on to better times – hm, that sounded quite fancy actually. Maybe I should put that on the internet, it might become a famous quote.

"I'll... I'll let them in." She hesitated, before smiling dryly. "Thanks, Brock. I needed to speak to someone with some common sense."

That had gone surprisingly easily, and I had to hide my surprise at this turn of events.

"…You're welcome," I said, doing my best not to show my bafflement. May smiled, and I was suddenly struck with how much older she looked – more mature, more like a woman instead of a girl. Brotherly pride filled me at seeing how a shy, unconfident girl had grown into this calm and collected woman who knew what she wanted.

"See you later, Brock." A mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I've got some apologies to accept."

And in some other ways, she was still so much like a girl. I grinned. "Bye!"

I momentarily thought of calling Max and Drew back, but I trusted that May would keep word and they could handle themselves. I had other things to do. Namely, a date to save, or hopefully there would still be a date to save.

I put my phone back in my pocket and rubbing my cold hands together, I strode back into the warm café. My eyes easily found Lucy, still seated at the same table. She looked completely at peace, idly drawing patterns on the table with one finger as she read what seemed to my paper. Warmth filled my chest, but it was quickly squished away when I noticed that her glass was empty.

Just when I had almost reached our table, Lucy looked up from her reading and straight at me.

"Hey," I greeted her lamely, trying to quell the foreboding feeling in my stomach as I sat down. "I'm really sorry it took so long," I immediately started to explain, "It's really complicated and stupid, a friend of mine had locked two other friends out of the house, it was a bit their own fault really, and-" At Lucy's blank look, I summarized it with, "It's a long story."

Lucy looked away from me, and I licked my lips. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," she finally said after an almost inaudible sigh. She shook her head slightly and looked back at me, attempting to smile. "It's not your fault, I understand."

Her words didn't reassure me, nor did the silence that followed. I took a big gulp from my drink, and Lucy shifted on her chair. "But still…" She gave me an apologetic grimace. "It's kind of late, and my train…" she trailed off, and I nodded with a heavy feeling of disappointment.

"Yeah… I'm really sorry." It was my fault that our date had to end like this, that she'd had to entertain herself with only my scientific paper and not with me. I desperately tried to explain once more, "My friends needed my help and I couldn't-"

"Brock, Brock, I understand," Lucy interrupted, before letting out a dry laugh and shaking her head. "It's like all our dates are doomed to be cut short or interrupted."

I half-grinned at that. "Yeah, it sure seems so…"

Lucy stared at the table for a moment, her lips turning up slightly. "I did enjoy the bit before you were called." She looked back at me, her smile widening a bit. "And your paper was interesting to read."

I snorted. "But not as interesting as me, of course," I tried to joke and winked. Lucy grinned, and a look of extreme thoughtfulness overtook her.

"Hmm… that's a tough call," she said, and I looked quasi offended before smiling back at her.

"I did enjoy our time together," I said, becoming serious again. "I'll see you soon, okay? I promise the next time I'm all yours, hm?"

"That's a deal," Lucy agreed with another half-smile as she put some money on the table, before rising from her chair. I followed her example, and Lucy pressed a quick kiss on my lips. I watched her leave, and waved back when she turned at the door and gave me a quick little wave.

As soon as she was out of sight, I fell back in my chair, my breath whooshing out of me in a big sigh. I tried to drown the heavy feeling in my stomach with a last big gulp of my drink.

Romance… why was I getting involved, again? Heaving another sigh, I paid for my own drink, and then strode out of the café, stuffing my hands in my pockets. My determined steps slowed when I neared the Gym, until I was all but dragging my feet.

Usually, the warmth and the distraction my family provided was something I looked forward to, but at the moment I'd rather be alone. Although Dad had very generously offered to take care of the kids today so that I could enjoy my date, there would still be no avoiding them when I got home.

Still, I opened the door and went inside, enjoying my last moment of peaceful angsting in the hallway as I took slowly took off my jacket. The rest of the house was just as I had expected it: crowded and loud.

Tilly and Billy, who had apparently had invited some equally loud friends over, were in the living room, playing with Dad's Rhydon and a Girafarig which I thought to recognize as Yolanda's. The other kids were probably upstairs, crossing off that place as an option for a peaceful hideaway as well. The only upside was that since Forrest was journeying, I at least had my own room.

Dad poked his head out from the kitchen, a strangely nervous but wide smile on his face. "Brock!"

I attempted to smile at him as he met me halfway, an apron loosely bound around his waist. There must have been something visible in my body language, because his grin diminished, and I straightened up and forced the corners of my lips further up.

My phone buzzed and more out of habit than necessity I pulled it out. It was short message from Max: _Everything is fixed, thanks Brocko_. That lifted my spirits slightly, and my smile was more genuine when I turned my attention back to Dad, just to catch his thoughtful look which quickly morphed in an understanding smile.

"You know what, Brock," he said, more cheerily than usual and putting a hand on my shoulder, "Why don't you go upstairs and study, I'll handle everything here, m'kay?"

I stared at him in surprise, before my shoulders sagged and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Dad." I managed a small grateful smile.

His eyes had a strange glint in them as he returned my smile. "Anytime, Brock." He squeezed my shoulder, before letting go and turning back to the kitchen. "I'll see you at dinner."

I nodded at his back, surprised at this turn of events but not about to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth, and then went upstairs. Actually following Dad's advice, I turned to my study for a distraction.

That, at least, made sense.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading! We're about halfway through the story now, I think. Yeah, just a few more chapters, but at least they're long. See you in three weeks, everyone, and in the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter :D

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Dream Riptide_ by _The Light's Refrain_. **FFN.** A really short story, but so chilling. Whether it has a good or a bad ending all depends on your point of view, and that's just beautiful. Seriously great, go give it a look.

 **Pokémon:** _Heroes Grace_ by _Artemis173_. **FFN.** Thanks to _tiffanynicolexo_ for pointing my attention to this :D An incomplete but active multi-chaptered story with Poke, Contest, Ikari and LeafGreen. Sometimes a bit dramatic perhaps, but the character development and the amount of plot in it more than makes up for that. It places the characters in a music-school setting, and that might sound cliché, but you'd be surprised. It's a long read, but worth it :D

 **Jimmy Neutron:** _The Other Side of Tomorrow_ by _AntiqueDreams_. **FFN.** I can't believe I haven't recommended this one yet, this was the story I made my FFN account for (yeah, I was on a Jimmy Neutron high back then). Even with my higher standards now, it's still a very enjoyable (and complete) read, with a super original twist and amazing world building. A must-read if you love Jimmy Neutron.

Any of your own recommendations are more than welcome, of course :D


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Yay, here's another chapter! Thanks so much for continuing to read and support this story, it really warms my heart. Not much else to say here, so let's get started!

To _Guest_ : Yes, so far, everything is going well, but if it'll continue like that… XD Thanks a lot!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 5**

"Lucy, could you maybe-"

A loud buzzing sound interrupted me for the nth time and I dropped my head on the table. Lucy laughed loudly and I groaned to the tabletop. "How am I ever going to finish cutting up this cucumber if everyone keeps calling me?"

"Your siblings miss you." Lucy smiled indulgently when I looked up. She was already more than halfway with cutting up her part of the cucumber, while my endeavor had been repeatedly interrupted by ridiculous calls from my siblings. I suspected they were bored and killing time by bothering me. It was one of their favorite pastimes, I'd found.

"But why always when I'm with my girlfriend?" I whined, before reaching out to the device. Besides the current barrage of prank calls, the kids indeed did call me frequently – despite that my stay at the Battle Pike was only for a few days, they had gotten so used to my presence that apparently they couldn't miss me for that long. Dad, too, had called multiple times already these past three days, but not with stupid inquiries or nonsensical blabbing, but because he actually seemed interested in how I was doing.

It was… kind of nice, to be honest. Dad had immediately given his approval and blessing to our young relationship – not like we'd needed it, but still – and now he was eagerly awaiting the moment I'd bring Lucy to meet the family. Though his enthusiasm was a bit unnerving, it had the upside that he was more than happy to let me go to the Battle Pike to spend a few full days with Lucy, despite how crazily busy the Gym was at the moment.

I was about to accept the call, but momentarily stopped short when I saw the caller ID, and then took the call anyway.

"Hello?" I said with a slight frown. I stood up and took a few steps away from Lucy, who caught my eyes questioningly.

"Brock, hey, man." Gary's relieved voice came from the other side, and I pursed my lips in confusion.

"Hey, Gary," I clarified for Lucy while sharing a confused glance, before she shrugged lightly and turned back to her cucumber.

"I kind of need your help." _Sure, why else would he call?_ To be fair, though, I had done the same when I'd needed advice about my first date with Lucy.

Still, did he seriously need my help _right now_?

"Eh, Gary, I'd love to help, but I'm kind of-"

He didn't even let me finish. " _Please_ , Brock-" His voice broke, and the sudden desperation I heard shook me.

"Alright, alright," I quickly agreed, sending an apologetic look to Lucy. She nodded with a strained and concerned smile, and I hurried out of the kitchen to the both more private and cramped hallway.

"Okay, what-"

"I'm losing Leaf." Gary's words were rushed, panicked, and it made me stop short in my tracks. After a moment of frozen shock, I pulled the phone away from my ear and pressed the visual button, after which Gary's face appeared on the small screen.

He didn't look as bad as he'd sounded, at first glance, his calm expression seeming to bely his words. Upon closer inspection, though, his shoulders were tense, his jaw was clenched and his eyes were subtly widened.

"Explain," I said, getting to the point immediately.

He nodded tersely. "Leaf and I, we- we have been travelling together for a while now, you know, with the season having started and Leaf wanting to participate in the League, and I'm just tagging along, really, but- Anyway, well, I'm not a bad battler-" For a change, it didn't sound like he was bragging, but more like he was honestly trying to explain something. "-and with my research and Granddad, well, I'm not exactly an unknown person around Kanto."

No, no indeed he wasn't. For all the reasons just mentioned, and of course his flirty, charming and cool imago, Gary was quite well-known among especially the teenage female population of Kanto and Johto.

"And well, I'm not... bad-looking," Gary said hesitantly, almost uncertain, and I had to keep myself from outright gaping at him. Who was this and what had he done with the cocky researcher I knew? "And there were... girls, who wanted to battle me. Pretty girls, you know, real nice, not bad battlers either, and well, they were flirting with me. They battled either Leaf or me or both of us, but they always flirted with me- though, actually, there was also one who flirted with Leaf-" He shook his head. "But that's really not the point, they flirted with me and Leaf wasn't reacting at all!"

Okay, _now_ I was gaping at him.

"Don't you see it?" Gary threw his hands up in frustration. "If someone flirts with _your_ partner, you get jealous! That's a normal, human reaction!"

That one hit home. Without wanting to, I flashed back to the last few days here at the Battle Pike.

My intention had been to spend more quality time with Lucy. The season had started in Kanto, which meant that both the Gym and the Battle Pike had grown much more busy. Fortunately, I had Dad to help me out, but Lucy didn't have that luxury. Even though the Battle Frontier locations weren't as popular for all those young rookie trainers as Gyms were (Pewter was _extremely_ busy at the moment), there were still more experienced Trainers who wanted to try out the Battle Frontier. Most of those had experience in the League, and now saw this as an opportunity to either train, actually gain an position or just to have a new experience. This meant that Lucy could never spend more than an afternoon away, and between my study, the kids and the Gym, it was progressively becoming more difficult to spend time together.

But Dad had come to the rescue, and after some meticulous planning, we had managed to get me a few days off. Lucy still had to battle a few hours a day, but the rest of the time could be spend together. And whenever Lucy had to defeat- er, _battle_ her challengers, I would spend time with my Pokémon, contacted the home front, or, and admittedly this was how I'd spent most of my time, watched her.

She was elegant in her battling, not wasting any words or actions and commanding her Pokémon with a fierceness I hadn't yet had the pleasure of seeing in our conversations. Besides the challengers, many other trainers were frequent visitors of the Battle Pike, to train, battle each other or, whenever Lucy had extra time, followed her improvised lessons. As soon as I had found out about the latter, I was more than happy to help as well.

All in all, the first day had been more than perfect, but the second day… I'd noticed something. And by the third day, I'd been unable to ignore it anymore. In fact, I'd been planning on talking about it with Lucy this very evening – after all, communication was the key and I'd be a true hypocrite not to follow my own advice – but then Gary had called…

And as fate would have it, he just happened to have the same problem as I had, albeit a bit differently.

Because while Leaf didn't appear to have an interest in Gary's flirtatious challengers, _I_ did notice the males who vied for Lucy's attention. And although I'd done my best to suppress it, I couldn't help the envy I felt whenever she, in a nervous, joking manner, tried to redirect the conversation. It was reassuring that she was at least doing that-

"Brock?" Gary asked, and with a jerk I focused back at his now slightly worried and confused expression. "You okay?"

"Yes, yes." I nodded, forcing the thoughts about my own problems away in favor of Gary's. "Sorry, just zoned out there for a moment."

"I noticed," he said dryly and with a reasonable amount of offense in his tone.

"Anyway," I said, trying to organize my thoughts. "I think you're wrong."

"Wrong?" Gary frowned. "What do you mean?"

"What you said," I started slowly, still figuring out how exactly I wanted to say it. "About that jealousy is normal and logical for humans in a relationship. But… I don't think so. I mean, of course it happens, it happens a lot, but not _everyone_ gets jealous. That doesn't mean they care less about you-"

"But-"

"Maybe Leaf doesn't see those girls as a threat," I hurried my explanation along. "Maybe she trusts you. Maybe she is absolutely certain in her knowledge that, no matter what, you'd stay loyal to her." I paused for a much needed breath. "Maybe she didn't even notice." I attempted to smile understandingly. "That doesn't mean she doesn't care about you or about your relationship."

The confusion and panic were still very apparent on Gary's face, and I let out a long breath.

"Alright," I said, gentling my voice. "Alright, Gary…" My empathic smile came easier now. "Look, I can't tell you what Leaf is feeling right now. I can't tell you why you can't see her jealousy. Maybe she's just really good at hiding it, or maybe she _really_ isn't jealous. And that's not a bad thing, you know."

He nodded reluctantly, and it looked like he was about to protest.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"But… but what if…" His voice cracked, and his expression already told me what 'what if' he was fearing.

"What if she doesn't like you anymore?" I quietly guessed, and Gary nodded sharply, his face relaxing somewhat. "I know that's… I know that's not a nice feeling." _Okay, let's_ not _go into the deep, dark emotions subject._ "But… It's Leaf. You're friends. Like I said, I can't tell you what she's feeling right now. Maybe you can, but, at the very least, I think that you shouldn't deduce her feelings from just her reactions to some passerby girls."

Gary looked at the ground, and I frowned. Perhaps I'd sounded too judgmental. I tried to soften my statement somewhat. "I understand that it's easier to do that than... well-" Hm, the rest of my sentence 'actually asking her' did sound judgmental as well. "I mean, I understand that it's an easy way to figure out her feelings, but women aren't going to make it easy for you," I attempted to joke, and Gary cracked a small smile when he looked up.

"I have a feeling what your advice is going to be," he said with a sigh, a note of dry amusement in his voice. He looked decidedly unimpressed, and I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh really?"

Pitching his voice, Gary imitated, "If you really want to know Leaf's feelings, for _certain_ , you shouldn't try and guess them, but you should talk with her." He nodded, looking altogether too satisfied with himself.

I frowned in offense. "Exactly," I grudgingly agreed. "Communication is the key."

"Oh yeah, almost forgot that part."

My eyes narrowed and I pursed my lips. "Well, if you know it so well already, why didn't you just fix it yourself-"

"No, no, that's not how I meant it!" Gary tried to backpedal. "I uh... Look, I mean, I know talking is the best way, but I was kind of… hoping that you had a better way..." He trailed off, giving me a vague apologetic expression.

I sighed, my posture softening. Gary truly looked pitiable right now. How easily women could play us…

"An easier way," I said with wry grimace. Some things never changed, I guessed.

"Sort of," he admitted with a sheepish smile and a shrug. "But I guess not..."

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p', and let out a quiet sigh. "Believe me, Gary, if there was an easier way I would have used it myself as well." Erm, oops, I hadn't meant to share that.

"Really? Women trouble as well?" He looked both surprised and a tad amused. Why was I helping him again?

"A little bit, that's all," I tried to scramble back. "Jealousy. I mean, I'm jealous." My face brightened. "And see, I'm not being a hypocrite, because I'm going to follow my own advice and talk to her about it. _In fact_ , I was already planning on it, but _your_ phone call interrupted it." I narrowed my eyes quasi accusing.

"Heh." One corner of his mouth turned up. "I suppose we both should get back to our women, then?" he offered half-heartedly.

I blew out a breath, but then nodded reluctantly. Gary, too, didn't seem too keen on ending this conversation.

"Nervous?" I asked, doing my best to keep my tone light.

"Ah, you know, the usual, not wanting to expose my insecurities, inability to talk about my feelings, not wanting to share any mushy stuff, blah blah blah, everything women always hammer on about." Gary rubbed the side of his face. "Mew, and now I'm supposed to really do that."

"Ah, but you're Gary Oak, _the_ Gary Oak, surely you'll be able to handle a silly thing like an emotional conversation?"

He grinned, but not very convincingly. "Sure thing, Brocko, sure thing…"

I pressed my lips together and let out a breath through my nose. "Gary..." I pushed the pity out of my voice and started over, more strongly now. "Gary, you really can do this. Leaf cares about you. You're friends. She won't laugh at you. She'll appreciate your honesty and the trust you're giving her. And whether it's today or in a few weeks, she'll return the favor and trust you with something. To move further in this relationship, you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable, even though it's scary. You have to trust her, and talk about your feelings with her."

Gary stared at me, mouth hanging open. After a slow blink of his eyes, he closed his mouth, shook his head a bit and then finally said, "Sometimes I'm really impressed by your ability to repeat the same message over and over again in different words."

The pride I'd felt at my little speech evaporated at Gary's words, and I shot him a look. He smirked in response, and I rolled my eyes.

"It's a talent." I shrugged. "And it's still true. If you truly want this thing with Leaf to go somewhere, you'll have to invest in it. You're young, you'll have time and opportunities enough, but Leaf won't be waiting forever. If you want commitment- And you want that, right?" I checked, and after his nod, I continued, "So, tell her that. If you tell her you won't leave her, and that you're afraid of her leaving you, maybe she'll reassure you. Or..." I trailed off, realizing that this probably wasn't the best way to end this particular speech. _Either she'll stay or she'll crush your heart in her hands. Great going, Brocko._

"Or she'll laugh in my face and then leave with another guy," Gary finished for me with a grimace. "But I don't think she'll do that."

Well, at least he could still think rationally instead of blindly panicking. That was probably something Ash would have done had I phrased something so carelessly.

"I guess that's all the wisdom you have to offer?" Gary asked after some silence.

"You make it sound as if my wisdom so far has been useless," I said, quasi offended.

"Well, some things were more questionable, but I admit…" Gary sighed theatrically. "You were right. And I can only pray that you're right in this case as well."

"Well, yeah, same here," I muttered under my breath. _Lucy…_ "Let me know how it went, okay?"

He hesitated, then nodded. "Good luck. And thanks, Brocko. I can always count on you." He winked, trying to downplay it, but I could hear the sincerity behind the words.

"Of course." I grinned, his words reminding me why I'd liked helping everyone so much. "Good luck to you as well."

With some more goodbyes, the conversation ended, and though I slipped my phone back into my pocket, I continued standing in the hallway. I wetted my lips and took a breath, attempting to calm myself. I could this. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of. Like I'd told Gary, if you wanted a relationship to go somewhere, you'd have to invest in it. The fact that I was here, staying at her house, that I was going to _meet her parents_ tomorrow, everything was already pointing at a more serious relationship and I wanted to keep that trend.

Communication was the key. I could do this.

When I walked back to the kitchen, Lucy was idly moving the cutlery around and looked up with a smile when I entered. The weight on my shoulders immediately seemed to lighten. I could do this. Of course I could do this.

"Sorry," I said, walking over to the stove. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No, it's alright. I finished up the cucumber for the salad, and the beans weren't quite done yet anyway."

I lifted the lid of a pan and glanced inside, before taking a fork to pick one of the beans out of the cooking water.

"Hm…" I smacked my lips. "I think they're done now."

"Alright then, let's eat!" Lucy beamed and joined me at the stove to take another pan, as I already took the one with the beans to the sink.

I loved cooking with Lucy, I mused as the steam rose. We hadn't had many opportunities yet, as Lucy was busy with her challengers, but tomorrow she had a day off. Of course, we were going to visit her parents, but afterwards we should have enough time left to prepare a lavish meal.

"Brock?" Lucy looked at me inquisitively, and I pulled myself back to reality. I put the pan on the table, just as Lucy had done already.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"Just if you were thinking about something? And from your response, I'd say so." She smiled a bit mischievously, before looking serious again. "Is everything alright with Gary?"

I blinked. "Ah, yeah... Yes, yes, everything with Gary… well, it's fixed now." I smiled distractedly, and Lucy continued to look worried. "Really, Gary will be fine, I was actually thinking about…" I hesitated. Should I bring it up now already?

Another moment of cowardly hesitation, and then, "About how much I love cooking with you, and how we'll have enough time for that tomorrow, after we've met your parents," I finished my sentence with a smile. Lucy frowned, and I inwardly sighed. I gestured to the chairs – and mentally, I promised myself that when the next opportunity presented itself I would take it and tell her about my jealousy.

"Don't worry, they'll love you, I'm sure of it." Lucy sounded distracted, but she followed my lead and sat down.

To be honest, I actually wasn't that worried about 'meeting the parents.' Maybe I should be, but as long as I behaved myself appropriately during the visit, I wasn't foreseeing any problems. After all, I was a former Gym Leader, still quite a prominent figure in Pewter City, I was studying to be a Pokémon doctor, I had travelled, I had a lot of experience as a Pokémon Breeder, I could take care of kids, I could cook, clean, even liked to do it, I was a gentleman- Really, as long they hadn't heard of my reputation as a ladies' man, I should be okay. And considering this ladies' man hadn't had a lot of success with the ladies…

Anyway, I should be okay-

"Brock?"

With a sheepish smile I looked back to Lucy, as I was for the second time this minute called back to reality by her. There was a crease between her eyebrows.

"Sorry, did it again, eh?" I rubbed the back of my neck in an Ash-like manner. "I'll pay attention now, promise."

I swallowed when Lucy seemed only partially reassured. This was the perfect moment to mention my jealousy...

"So, uh, Gary, right? He's the Pokémon researcher, not?" Lucy's question provided me with an easy excuse to procrastinate, which I – to my shame – gladly took.

And so the rest of the dinner progressed peacefully. From Gary to Pokémon research to my studies to the Battle Pike – another opportunity for me, which I, too, allowed to slip through my fingers – to the Gym and to my siblings; but despite the various interesting topics, there was still a certain tension in the air. Something needed to be said, and we both could feel it.

As we reached dessert – a strawberry pudding that Lucy had made herself – I was running out of excuses. The lull in the conversation provided by our first bites was another opportunity, and this time, _this time_ , I was going to take it.

"Lucy."

Perhaps it was something in my tone, but Lucy startled and strangely enough, looked almost scared when her wide eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't ponder it, though, as my next words were already on my lips. "I need to talk to you. About something."

She swallowed and pressed her lips together, before nodding earnestly. "Okay."

I licked my lips, swallowed again, took another deep breath – then, there were no more ways for me to avoid speaking, and I started, "These past few days... They've been great, really. It's been better than all our previous dates and I love being able to spend so much time with you." Lucy nodded, a small smile on her lips, but still looking tense. "But..."

The words got stuck in my throat, causing me to make a rather strange sound that sounded like a cross between a groan and an awkward cough. Lucy didn't seem to have noticed it, though.

"Brock..." she said quietly, "I think I know what you're going to say."

 _Wait, what? Really?_

"Wh- Really?" I voiced my thoughts, trying to keep the relief and surprise out of my voice, but failing miserably. "That's... that's _good_."

"Yes, yes, I do." She nodded, her posture relaxing somewhat. "And I understand completely. It's not that strange to be scared, you know."

My eyebrows furrowed together. That... wasn't something I'd expected to hear from Lucy. Yes, she was a great girl and I was afraid to lose her, but for her to understand that… that was almost arrogant.

"I mean, it's a bit overwhelming for me as well," she said, attempting to smile. Overwhelming? Did she mean the attention from the other guys? I was definitely frowning when her smile turned more confident and she continued, "But I'm sure we can find a way to balance everything."

Okay, something was definitely not adding up. Balance everything? Was she thinking she would get to balance me and the other men?

I stared at her in open confusion.

Confusion flashed across Lucy's face as well, before it was replaced with a understanding smile. "If you ever need space, you just need to tell me, okay? I'll understand."

Now this definitely wasn't making sense anymore. At all.

"What?" I finally managed to utter something, though sadly not something very intelligent.

"What?" Lucy echoed, the smile slipping off her face in favor of mirroring my confusion.

"W-what..." I tried again, but everything in my mind was jumbled together and I had difficulty forming a comprehensive string of words. "What... what are you... what are you talking about?" _Ah, finally a somewhat normal sentence._

"What are _you_ talking about?" Lucy repeated again, sounding equally lost as a blush crept up her cheeks.

When I just continued staring at her unintelligently, no reply coming forth, Lucy fortunately took it upon herself to explain. "I thought... I thought you were going to say that you thought we were moving too fast."

Once again we were graced with a masterful reply from me. "What?"

"Uh..." Lucy was full on blushing now. "You didn't mean that? Oh Mew..." She hid her face in her hands. "I thought... You were distracted... And you said you were thinking about tomorrow, about meeting my parents, and I thought you were nervous, that… that you were having doubts, because this relationship was moving too fast for you."

Well, that was a logical conclusion. And that made her previous words a lot more logical as well.

"I..." _Right, focus, Brock. Normal words, normal sentences._ "I don't think that. That's not what I was going to say. I was going to say..." _Er, skip this part for now._ "I mean, I don't think we're moving too fast. I like this pace. I'm looking forward to meeting your parents." _Right, right, that's it, Brock, you can do this._

I smiled, looking in her beautiful eyes. "I'm perfectly happy like this. I couldn't be happier. I really love... being together with you like this." _Okay, Romeo, maybe_ now _you're moving too fast. Calm down, don't scare her away._

"That's... good. That's really good." Lucy was still holding my stare, her mouth half-open and her cheeks red as she tried to gather herself. "I mean, I love spending time with you as well, heh." A hesitant but beautiful smile grew on her face, the blush only making her look all the more attractive.

After a few blissful moments of looking in each other's eyes, Lucy seemed to pull herself back into reality.

"But..." Realization flitted across her features. "What were you going to say, then?"

 _Oh, Mew._

I took a deep breath. "I... I really like spending time with you. I really being here with you. I really like _you_. And- And it was really great to see you work like this, and... Mew, this is stupid, but I can't help it..." I rested my face in hand. "Please don't think I'm possessive or anything, I'm not, you need your freedom and I trust you completely, but..." _Now, fast_. "When I see you with some of those challengers, I can't help but get jealous."

As soon as the words were out, I almost cringed in preparation for her onslaught. However, Lucy was still looking at me blankly, and desperation clawed at me as I prayed that she had please gotten my message.

"You're jealous..." Lucy said, slowly.

"I'm sorry," I said, hanging my head a little. Dammit, everything had been going so great… But surely speaking the truth would turn out for the better?

"I..." Lucy started. "I don't know what to say. I mean, I... I hadn't expected this." She sounded more surprised than anything else, and when she gave me a small smile I felt my spirits lifting again. After a moment, seriousness took over her expression, but before I could fall back into despair, Lucy took my hands in hers.

She continued, looking in my eyes, "Thank you for telling me, Brock, I appreciate it. I'm glad you trust me and that you realize I need my space." She took a deep breath, and her serious mask loosened somewhat. "And uh, being truthful and all, it's also kind of flattering to hear... I mean, sometimes I do notice that they're flirting with me, but well, I promise you, Brock-" And the seriousness was back. "-that I have no interest in returning their flirtations."

I grinned widely, which Lucy hesitantly returned. I'd expected – or rather, very strongly hoped – that she would say something along these lines, but still, to actually hear it felt _really_ nice.

"Thank you, Lucy," I breathed, and without any conscious decision I leaned further over the table. The strawberry dessert sat forgotten between us as Lucy too leaned in. "I will try not to be jealous."

Her shy smile widened. "I'm really happy you told me." She hesitated, her cheeks darkening again – she was really prone to blushing, I realized with some fondness. "I don't know if I'm being too forward..." Lucy weighed her words before continuing, "But I really think we can make this work." Her blush intensified. "L-long term, I mean."

My heart leapt out of my chest, and in my enthusiasm I fumbled to respond as fast as possible. "I- I think so, as well, too. I- I mean, yeah- Yeah, I'd like that. I really hope so."

We leaned in further, Lucy's eyes closed and I allowed my own eyelids to droop as well-

I jumped up, my leg violently vibrating with the buzzing of my phone. "Freaking Mew!" I cursed, almost dropping my phone in my panic to pull it out of my pocket. Lucy looked on with wide eyes, all the previous signs of blushing completely gone.

"Yes?" I said anxiously, without even looking at the caller ID. If someone interrupted a moment like this, surely it _had_ to be important, right?

"Brocko!" Gary's jovial voice came through, and I fell back in my chair. The now useless adrenaline was still racing through my body.

"Hey, Gary."

Gary didn't seem to notice my tone, but happily chattered on, "Just called to let you know that everything worked out. Leaf and I are now in an officially established exclusive relationship."

"That's great," I said with as much cheerfulness as I could muster, pushing away my irritation.

"Thanks!" Gary's obvious excitement and obliviousness to my situation showed that he was more like Ash than the boy himself thought. "Well, anyway, I gotta go again, got a date planned with the lady in ten minutes. And good luck with Lucy!" He added the last part quickly, and after some rushed goodbyes, the line went dead.

With a sigh, I put my phone away. "Well, that was a mood killer," I said in an attempt at a joke.

"Bad news?" Lucy seemed confused, worried and something else I couldn't place, and I shook my head.

"Nah, Gary just wanted to let me know everything was going great, in fact." I smiled apologetically. I just wished he had picked another moment to let me know. Or had sent me a text or something.

"Ah." Lucy's smile seemed a bit off, but I smiled back anyway. An awkward silence descended upon us, and I wondered if it was inappropriate to suggest that we'd continue where we'd left off.

Too many moments passed, and Lucy turned her attention back to the dessert. I swallowed and resisted the urge to wring my hands together.

"It tastes good, right?" I said just to say something, a hesitant touch to my voice.

Lucy looked up at me from her bowl, and for a long moment it seemed like she was hesitating, before answering, "Yes, yes, it's good."

Something heavy dropped in my stomach for a reason I couldn't discern – her answer was perfectly normal, and her smile… The weight increased, but I smiled back at her anyway.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's another chapter done! Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you guys liked this one. Please leave a review on the way out, and I'll see you in three weeks!

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _The Middleground_ by _I Am Lu_. **FFN.** A very promising WishfulShipping multi-chaptered story. It's still just beginning, but I have high hopes for this one. In this story, there's civil war looming on the horizon of Unova, and Iris gets a mysterious letter… So, yeah, a dark story, but exciting so far!

 **Pokémon:** _Path To Happiness_ by _Riikani_. **FFN.** A finished ContestShipping multi-chaptered story, set in the medieval ages. May is a princess, Drew a soldier, and their love should be impossible- And believe me, the circumstances sure do try to keep them apart. A great read, give it a look!

 **Jimmy Neutron:** _To Cross The Rubicon_ by _pottergal_. **FFN.** A hilarious finished multi-chaptered story about Jimmy and Cindy, which also manages to keep quite well to their ages. A school project gone wrong leads to Cindy claiming that she's in love with Jimmy, which leaves everyone confused, and Jimmy most of all. Really funny!

If you want to recommend a story, be it your own or someone else's, feel free to let me know!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** And here's another chapter! Quite a heavy one, lots of revelations and plot and all, but that's all I'm going to say about it :P Oh, and that this story is now definitely diverting from the established canon in the anime (if it hadn't done so before, already).Thank you for your support, and please enjoy!

To _Guest_ : Yes, we're getting into the real meat of the story now! Thank you very much :D

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover.**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 6**

"So, Dad, guess what?" Despite my attempts to sound casual, I wasn't completely able to hide the excitement in my voice. Dad looked up from the paper he was hastily leafing through and cocked his head. I leaned against the door frame in another attempt to look nonchalant, but the grin threatening to break out on my face ruined it.

"What is it?" There was controlled amusement in his voice, and his eyebrows were raised.

"I just called Lucy..." I paused for dramatic purposes – I knew how long Dad had been waiting and eagerly looking forward to this moment – "...aaaand she agreed to come visit." I finally allowed my grin to break my composure, but it drooped a bit when Dad's face stayed blank.

My eyebrows furrowed, but I attempted again, stressing the words, "For a few days. To stay here, in the house. So she can meet the family."

Now finally his mouth contorted in what was a sad attempt for a grin, and something heavy dropped in my stomach. My own smile fell off my face and I straightened, leaving the door frame for what it was and I walked into the kitchen.

"That's great, Brock, that's really great!" Dad attempted to quell my wariness with overly enthusiastic words. "That's a big step and I'm really looking forward to meeting Lucy." His smile stretched so wide it looked painful. "The kids will love her," he finished in a strangely thick voice.

"Right." I gave him a look and slid down in the chair opposite him. He averted his eyes, back to the paper on the table, and his smile diminished until it seemed like it had never been there at all.

Automatically, I opened my mouth to call him out on his strange behavior, but my mind shut it again just in time. Yes, Dad was obviously hiding something, but… he was my _father_. Could I pry into this, or was this something I really had no right to know, maybe even something I didn't even _want_ to know? The twisting of my insides intensified, and I shifted on the chair.

"Dad..." My voice was unintentionally soft, and it had a vulnerable, almost boyish edge that surprised me. Dad looked up, his brown eyes troubled and the wrinkles around them suddenly more apparent to me.

"Brock..." His voice broke in hesitation and perhaps something else. His hands were clasped together and for some moments he stared at them, although I doubted he actually saw them. Then, his shoulders tensed and he looked back up, jaw set and lips pressed together. "Brock, for some time, I've been meaning to tell you something."

I now mirrored his look of seriousness, fruitlessly trying to suppress the terrifying possibilities my mind was conjuring up – was he sick, was there something with the kids, the Pokémon, the house, the Gym, and, very distantly, _did he want to leave again_. My hands were clammy as I clasped the fabric of my trousers tightly.

"Alright." I tried to keep my voice even, but I doubted my success.

He swallowed, looking down at his hands again, but he quickly turned back to me. He looked as serious as I'd ever seen him.

"Brock... I don't... I don't want to scare you," he started, and really, he was definitely failing at the not-scaring part. "And please, you have to understand that I'd never planned it like this..." _Alright_ , I attempted to rationalize, _whatever was going on is something he has some measure of control over, then._ "I can't ask you... I mean, I can't expect you not to be angry or confused or, or, sad..." It took me a moment to place the emotion – fear? It confused me as much as it worried me.

"The kids are my highest priority, and I'd never... I'd never do anything to purposely hurt them, you know that- And I'll do my very best to prevent any unintentional hurt. I never wanted to hurt them-" Was he talking about when he had left? He wasn't making much sense to me, but the importance of the situation was obvious.

He looked at me, pleadingly. "She never wanted that, either-"

 _"She?"_ I immediately latched onto the word.

"Brock..." Dad swallowed. "I've been in contact with your mother."

I could only stare in response.

Everything fell away. My hands slipped off of my legs and onto the chair, which I gripped tightly, suddenly needing physical contact to keep away the lightness in my head. My heart raced and the air had suddenly become heavy, making it difficult to breathe.

"Wh-what?" It was only when I heard the hoarse whisper that I realized I had spoken.

"She misses you," Dad said, his hands untangling to awkwardly reach across the table. "All of you, s _o much_." He paused, his hand taking a gentle hold on my upper arm. "And… we- we're in love." I tensed up, if possible, even more.

Dad picked up speed. "And I know it's difficult, especially for you, and I'd never want to do anything without your permission and consideration when concerning the kids, but please consider that she misses you and it's everything to her to see you all again, and me, too-" The obvious hope on his face only intensified the mess of emotions I was feeling and thoughts I was not yet processing.

"To be a whole family again..." he finished, quietly, squeezing my arm. I looked at his hand on my arm, a lump in my throat and my eyes inexplicably burning.

Silence reigned for what could be mere seconds or full minutes, until Dad finally broke it with a whispered "Brock?"

"I..." _Mom... She left us, she left Dad, she left me with the kids, and now she wants to come back just like that-_

"No." I shook my head, fiercely, and pulled my arm free. "No, no," I repeated, my voice rising in volume. "It's good like this. Mom- _No!_ She left us, she left _you_ , _how can you-!"_

The stricken look on Dad's face made me realize that I was standing and yelling, and I snapped my mouth shut.

"No," I bit out with another shake of my head. "No. It's not going to happen. _Never._ She's not- And you-" My voice was rising again, and I squeezed my burning eyes shut, as not to see Dad's face anymore. "It was perfectly fine like this! Why do you have to go and ruin it again?!"

Something wet and warm escaped my eyes, and my voice broke. _"No."_ With one last shake of my head, I turned, and fled to my room.

* * *

It was not how I'd imagined I'd be spending my afternoon: frustratingly punching, wringing and otherwise abusing my pillow, while even more frustratingly trying to choke back tears and wiping my cheeks, which was followed by restlessly pacing, and now I was finally, empty and exhausted, lying on my bed, unseeingly staring up at the ceiling.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know what I wanted- no, wait, I did. I wanted to hide somewhere and disappear forever. Or, even better, I just wanted this situation to go away, to disappear like it had been never there.

Or, really, it would already just be nice if someone else would fix this for me, for once.

But those were stupid, _childish_ thoughts – this was reality, and I was an adult, I had responsibilities, and I had to handle this myself.

The kids. Oh Arceus, what was I going _to do_?

Well, lying here on my bed was not going to solve anything, I decided halfheartedly, and reluctantly I sat up. I momentarily saw spots until my blood caught up with my new position, and then I took a few slow, deep breaths.

For some moments I stared blankly ahead, thinking that perhaps I should call someone, Lucy, or Ash, but I almost immediately disregarded the notion- I didn't want to burden them with my drama.

No, I would do this alone. With a sigh I put the phone I had unconsciously taken from my pocket back, and took another breath.

Alright. I could do this.

Dad wanted Mom to return-

Even at the simple thought, my mess of feelings returned fiercely. The hot anger at _how-dare-she-even-think-about-it_ , the embarrassing amount of happiness and hope because _she-still-loves-us-she's-back-she's-alive-she's-back_ , the acid sadness that bit through everything because _why-had-she-left-and-I-miss-you-so-Mom-but-how-can-I-ever-accept-this_ , the unexpected bitter sting of betrayal because _Dad-he's-going-to-leave-us-again-why-did-he-have-to-ruin-everything_ -

That last one surprised me, because I hadn't been aware that, over time and despite everything, I'd come to accept and care for Dad again (or still, perhaps). I liked – no, if I was going to analyze my feelings I was going to do it properly – I _loved_ this strange sort of family, the peace we had built in spite of all the circumstances. Dad and I worked together so well, and now...

Now he wanted to let _her_ back in our lives.

But he was my father, and she was my mother, and how could I- I swallowed, my fists clenching. I was very good in denying things, but there was no sense in trying to do so now. I _cared_ about them, despite everything they put me and the kids through- Anger surged through me, again, and I'd thought I'd had no tears left and yet my eyes were burning again. The kids. _How could they do that to them?!_

My nails pressed in my palms and I let out a breath, trying to let go of the anger. I needed to think about this objectively.

All things considered, I decided after some deep thought, I guessed I could forgive them a lot. I guessed I could give them another chance, that we could try again, that I was willing to get over my hurt and fear to lose everything again- if only the kids weren't involved.

How could I justify putting them through another life-changing event, when they had only just gotten used to Dad? Looking back on that particular decision, it had been incredibly selfish of me to leave the kids with Dad, a man the younger ones barely remembered, just so that I could travel with Ash and Misty. That was part of the reason why I had been able to forgive Dad relatively easily – I was no better than him.

And he had _stayed_. But the children-

There was no easy solution for this, I acknowledged sadly. I would have to fix this, on my own- and wasn't that strange, because when was the last time I truly had to deal with something alone? That was before Dad had returned, then I was so used to doing everything alone, but now, now, there were always my friends I could fall back on, and whenever there was anything with the kids, the Pokémon or the Gym, there was Dad…

He had honestly tried. He really, really had. I swallowed heavily. And he had succeeded, too, I admitted to myself. He was part of the family. And for so long, I had been the one responsible for this family... But since he'd come back, Dad had done everything he could to show how much he cared for us.

And I believed him.

His words from before came to me, how he'd insisted that he'd do anything for the kids- I believed him. I believed him, but still… Would he truly put the kids before himself (and what about me, then, shouldn't he put _me_ before himself as well? Arceus, why did he have to go and ruin _everything?!_ ) My anger flashed again, and it was the easiest emotion to fall back on. The others just hurt too much.

With a shake of the head, I tried to push it aside. It would not help any of us, I needed to think clearly-

Dad... If I asked him, would he really, _really_ drop the whole Mom thing if I asked him? For the kids, for me?

My nails dug painfully in my skin and I squeezed my eyes shut. The answer was scary with all its implications, because, after all these years, after everything, _yes_ , yes, he would do that. I believed him, I trusted him- and I loved him, so how could I ask that of him? If he trusted my mother and if he truly and well believed that she wanted to be a family again, could I really, honestly, in good conscience, throw away the possibility of a whole, happy family?

My hands came up and covered my face, as if I could truly hide from this dilemma, as if everything would just disappear-

A timid knock on my door, and I froze. My hands fell from my face and I glanced at the clock – almost three – and swallowed. The kids would be coming home from school in about half an hour or so, so it could only be one person.

I almost wished he hadn't come, because that would've been so much easier – if he had given up, if he hadn't shown the consideration to resolve this before the kids came home, perhaps then I could still hide and justify that my selfish choice would be the best, but now…

"Yes?" My voice cracked, and I rose from the bed. Rather meet him eye to eye than let him see me in a moment of weakness. If Dad saw my weakness, he would comfort me, support me, because he was my _father_ , and that couldn't happen now, now were supposed to be equals, both responsible for the kids.

Dad looked like a mess, and for some reason this sent a shock through me. It had been stupid to think that he wouldn't be affected by this, and there was a momentary pang of guilt as I imagined how he would feel right now, before it was quickly pushed away.

"Brock..."

I crossed my arms across my chest when he didn't continue speaking and only looked at me, his expression a painful mix of emotions now very familiar to me.

"What?" I bit out, and he flinched, sending another pang of guilt through me. Arceus damn it all.

He straightened up, raising his eyes to meet mine, a thin sliver of iron in his gaze. "I don't want the kids involved in this discussion."

More guilt, and shame, because shouldn't _I_ have brought this up? Instead, I'd been sulking in my room – perhaps I truly still was a child, in some ways. It wasn't something I wanted to consider now, or ever.

I nodded tersely, and tried to regain some control of the situation by saying, "We need to discuss this."

"Yes." Dad nodded, then looked at me expectantly and I knew I had to say something. Suddenly everything I'd thought about in the previous hours seemed to slip away and jumble together in a vague mess, and no words came out. I needed to talk, because, ironically, this was another case in which I had to follow my own advice as well. Communication was the key in any relationship, not? And honesty…

"I... I don't know how to deal with this," I blurted out, something I'd definitely not wanted to say. Dad's expression softened and he took a step toward me. I stood rooted to the spot as he hesitantly approached me.

"Oh, Brock..." His hands were on my shoulders, and _this was not how this conversation was meant to go_ , but I allowed him to pull me in a strange hug. My eyes burned, and despite – or maybe because of – my conflicting emotions, I still brought my hands up to return the embrace.

"I'm still angry," I muttered over his shoulder. I was too tall to rest my head against his chest or even on his shoulder as I'd done when I was younger, so I simply stood and stared at the open door.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Yeah, I know," I said after a moment of consideration. I swallowed and there were suddenly words, "I missed you, you know. When you left."

A tremble went through Dad's body.

"Mom, too," I added. "And I was angry, and, and... _scared_ , I didn't know what to do-"

Dad hugged me tighter, his body trembling again and I wondered how well he was controlling his own emotions.

"But you came back," I said, "and, and..." I had never told him this before, had I? "And after a while, you really tried, and I... It was good like this, you know..." My voice broke, unable to say things I really wanted to say.

"I'm sorry."

"I forgave you," I continued, more words coming to me now, the truth becoming clear through my muddled feelings. "And... I'll probably forgive you for this as well…"

"Oh, Brock-"

I interrupted him before he could thank me. "But I don't know if I can forgive Mom..."

Dad tensed up.

"And the kids," I said, "They just... I don't want to put them through that... I'm sorry, but I _can't_ -"

"I understand…" he said, and the sadness in his voice shook me. I squeezed my eyes shut and hugged him tighter, bending a bit to rest my chin on his shoulder, and he returned the embrace with an almost desperate force.

"Yeah, I guessed that," I said sadly, our grip on each other loosening a fraction. He understood, and didn't that mean he deserved a chance? That Mom deserved a chance?

I swallowed, gripping Dad tighter again. "Alright."

"Alright?" Hesitantly, hopefully, but not yet believing.

I nodded against his shoulder. "It's not... I mean..." I didn't even know what I meant. It's not something I could stop? It's something that Dad deserved? I didn't know. "Slowly," I instead said. "With the kids, I mean. First the oldest kids, first Forrest when he comes home in three weeks…"

"Th- thank you, _thank you_." His voice was thick and he tightened his hold on me.

Surprisingly enough, I felt a watery smile tug on my lips. "We'll... We'll see how it goes. But if it goes wrong..." I trailed of, the smile falling again.

"If it goes wrong, she goes. _Promise._ The kids..." Dad nodded. "If it doesn't work out, she'll leave, I promise."

Yes, that was good. That was good. I felt some tension flow out of me, and I relaxed further in the hug.

"Thank you, Brock," he whispered heavily, his arms tightening their hold on me.

"Yeah..." I was saved from having to say anything else by the loud noise of a door opening and slamming shut.

"Ah, that must be one of the kids," Dad said dryly, and after another short squeeze, he let his arms fall back to his side and stepped away from me.

A look of understanding and a sad smile was shared, before Dad turned and went downstairs to greet the newcomer. As soon as the door closed behind him, I fell back on my bed. My breath left me in a whoosh.

 _Please let this not be a mistake._

* * *

I hadn't told Lucy about what had happened. Even though we hadn't been able to meet in person, she had still noticed something was going on, had asked me about it – but I had waved her worry away, mentally promising that I would tell her later, when everything was resolved again. I could handle it alone for now.

As for _how_ it would resolve itself… I wasn't sure what I hoping for. On one hand, it would be so much easier if my mother would just keep her nose out of our business – she'd never bothered before – but, on the other hand, for that to happen the kids would have to react badly to her, and I knew that would hurt her- _Dad_ terribly.

I shook my head to clear it – no need for such depressing thoughts just yet. A grin came easily to face as I thought happier thoughts: _Lucy._

She could be here any moment, it was only a matter of time before the doorbell would ring and I'd finally see her again. Excitement filled my stomach as a slowly inflating balloon. Admittedly, the previous weeks had been somewhat stilted between us due to the mother-issue constantly pressing on me, but I was sure that finally seeing each other face to face again-

"Is she there yet?" Billy poked his head into the kitchen and I almost started, before grinning at his eagerness and shaking my head in response.

"Did you hear a doorbell? Because I didn't," I teased, and he huffed and disappeared into the living room again. Still with a smile, I turned back to the lunch I was preparing. Nothing fancy, just a simple soup, and we'd have bread and salad to go along with it.

Tonight would be the real big dinner. Forrest was scheduled to come home today, and Salvadore and Tommie both had arrived several days ago. Apparently they'd accidentally met up on the road and upon hearing that Lucy would be coming had decided that this was a good excuse to visit home again.

Surprisingly enough, Yolanda, too, was still at home. She'd been here for several weeks, actually. Her travelling partner had left her in favor of someone else, she had reluctantly told us after insistent questions, and from her reaction it was easy for me to gather that, to her, that 'travelling partner' had been more than just a travelling partner.

So, this all coincided (if one could really call it a coincidence) with Lucy's meeting, which meant this would truly be a 'meet the family' event.

A loud ring interrupted my thoughts, and my grin returned. I dropped the spoon I'd been holding and dashed to the door, but both Tilly and Billy were faster, darting in front of me and coming to a slipping halt just before the front door.

"Hello!" they both yelled enthusiastically as they threw open the door. At seeing the figure in the entrance, spikey-haired and heavily packed, my smile momentarily dropped in surprise, before returning in full force.

"Forrest!" the twins exclaimed, and a moment later I jumped in to join their big family hug.

"Whoa, what a welcome." He laughed, patting my back. When we let go, he looked at us with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, though, why so enthusiastic?"

"We thought you were Lucy," I explained, and he put his fist in his open palm, an expression of mock realization on his face.

"That's right, _that_ was the reason I had to come home earlier! I would've almost forgotten it, with all your constant bragging-"

"-and googley eyes-" Tilly added.

"-and swooning-" Billy chimed in.

"-and grinning stupidly at nothing-" Yolanda yelled from the other room.

"-and his constant worrying if everything would be alright-" Tilly again.

"-and let's not forget _Dad's_ constant worrying," Yolanda yelled again. I heard Dad protest, but the kids' laughter quickly drowned it out, and at seeing Forrest's cheeky grin I rolled my eyes.

"Really, guys, it wasn't so bad-" I attempted to defend myself, before my eyes fell on a car pulling in. "Lucy!"

Forrest turned around and almost fell over as the twins and I pushed him aside to be the first to meet Lucy. And yes, _of course_ I easily won that race.

I almost tripped over my own feet in my haste to get to Lucy. When she stepped out of the car, I was immediately at her side, a wide grin on my face.

"Brock- oomph!" I tightly embraced her, and with a laugh she returned my hug. We pulled back after a moment, and she was all flustered, her eyes shining and such a beautiful smile on her lips…

I leaned down to kiss her, which immediately drew loud reactions from the kids. There were a lot of _eeeews_ , but I heard an _awwww_ from Yolanda, and a gagging sound from someone else. We let go, Lucy now full on red, and I realized that perhaps this hadn't been the best way to introduce her to my family. Too late for regrets now, as if I would ever regret kissing her.

Unsurprisingly the area around the front door had gotten a lot more crowded, and a quick count revealed that actually _everyone_ had left their previous activities to meet Lucy at the door. Yolanda had a small, somewhat sad smile on her face, the twins were jumping up and down in their excitement, and Forrest grinned widely and gave me thumps-up.

My eyes fell on Timmy, who fortunately quickly stopped making gagging noises when I shot him a stern look, but that didn't stop him from complaining. "Really-" He pulled a face, "-just because we don't have our parents being all smoochy everywhere, didn't mean the job was open for you!"

He laughed at his own joke, and several others joined him, but I stiffened, my eyes locking with Dad's. Lucy gave me a worried look, her hands tightening their hold on me.

"Brock? You okay?"

Lucy's squeeze and question managed to pull me back into reality, and I regained my presence of mind to tear my gaze away from Dad before any of the kids could notice. I attempted a smile, though it couldn't look very convincingly. "I- yes, I'm okay. Where's your bag?"

It wasn't one of my greatest attempts at diverting someone's attention, but I was saved by my siblings.

"Thanks, Brock, but-" Lucy started to say, before she was interrupted by an excited, girlish voice calling her name. I gladly took the opportunity and darted out of her reach and to the back door of the car, where I could see a bag laying on the seat through the window.

When I had pulled the bag from the car, I saw that Lucy had bent down to be eye to eye with Tilly, who was now enthusiastically rambling about something. Lucy nodded along, with a somewhat distracted smile.

It seemed that Tilly's assault had been the first step in the kids' plan of attack, as soon after her the others crowded around Lucy. Only Dad, Forrest and Salvadore were keeping their distance, content to wait on their turn. Or, as was probably the case with my brothers, they just didn't know how to approach her – neither being children who could excitedly run up to a possible new friend nor having Yolanda's female confidence in social situations.

"Alright!" I yelled over the tumult of the youngest ones, deciding that saving my girlfriend from rabid siblings was probably something a boyfriend ought to do. "Let's get inside and let's get lunch!"

"Lunch!" someone yelled – Billy, I believed – before the kids started to pull my girlfriend towards the house. So much for saving her.

She gave me a helpless look, and all I could do was shrug and give her an apologetic smile. Lucy and the kids disappeared inside, and after some hesitation, Forrest and Salvadore followed the others.

Dad waited for me to catch up in the door opening, and I hurried to him, Lucy's bags clutched in my hands.

As soon as I was in intimate conversation distance, he opened his mouth, but I was faster, "Let's just enjoy this for now, okay?" I looked at him pleadingly.

His breath left him in a quiet whoosh, and Dad closed his mouth again. He nodded, and the corners of his lips turned up a bit. "She seems nice."

"She is," I easily confirmed, and placed Lucy's bags in the hallway. I'd bring them to the improvised guestroom (which was actually Dad's room, but he was joining Forrest and me in our room for these nights) after lunch.

Lunch itself progressed- well, I wouldn't say peacefully, but definitely less violent and loud than I had expected. Lucy was formally introduced to Forrest and Salvadore, and of course to Dad, and the rest of introductions were redundant, as the kids had already done so in one way or another.

There were little incidents, nothing out of the ordinary, Timmy trying to sneakily put his salad on Tilly's plate, Billy accidentally spilling his soup, Forrest asking Lucy if she had a younger sister- alright, so that last one was out of the ordinary, but still nothing major.

Really, that everything was going so well, that Fortune had finally seemed to have taken pity on me, it definitely should have raised my suspicions. Like, _really a lot._

Lucy had unpacked, and after giving her a proper tour of the house and the Gym, we had now settled in the kitchen. The plan was to go get the groceries for dinner, and I was rummaging through the cabinets and the fridge to see what we still needed to buy, and Lucy wrote down what I called out.

And then-

I could have ignored it. I could have continued with my search through the cabinets, could have disregarded it as my imagination or tried to rationalize it as the sound of the TV. But my curiousness was too strong, and it would be fatal for the continued peacefulness of this holiday.

It was a voice.

I stilled in my movements, straining my ears. It was not a child's voice nor Dad's. Besides, the kids were scattered all through the house, upstairs, in the living room, in the phone area, and outside in the garden, and I knew Dad had gone to the Gym, but now-

Now I could hear him conversing in a hushed voice with a woman.

I could have left it at that. I could have turned back to the groceries and that would have been that. But I didn't, instead holding up a hand to Lucy to indicate her silence, and then I slowly walked towards the door that, via a narrow hallway, led to the Gym.

At the door, I could hear the voices more clearly – definitely Dad and a woman – but still not good enough to make out any words. A chair scraped over the floor, followed by Lucy's hesitant steps approaching me.

Perhaps, if I'd thought about it more, I wouldn't have done it. Or perhaps I still would have.

My hand rested on the doorknob, I hesitated for a fraction longer, and then pulled the door open in one smooth movement.

In the scarcely lit corridor stood Dad, indeed whispering with a woman. And though I would have liked to say that I barely recognized her, I did; even in the bad light I immediately realized who she was, and it knocked the air out of me.

Her curly hair was perhaps a bit shorter than before, but her brown eyes were exactly the same when she and Dad turned to me and Lucy in surprise. I didn't doubt that I was staring back at them with just the same shocked expression. But while Dad's expression was quickly morphed by panic, there was nothing of the sort recognizable on my mother's face.

She stood there for a long moment, simply staring at me, and then slowly a grin spread out on her face. Her eyes shone strangely when she reached out to me, and I stood frozen as she wrapped me in a hug.

"Brock! Oh, Brock-!" Her body shook as she let out a sob, and still I didn't move. "Oh my boy…" She loosened the embrace to look at me, and choked out, "You- you've grown so much…"

Maybe it was something in my expression or posture, or perhaps the situation caught up with her again, but my mother let go of me. The wide smile was still there, as were the now obvious tears in her eyes.

Then, her eyes fell on Lucy, and she somehow managed to compose herself so much that she could give her a welcoming smile. Lucy hesitantly smiled back.

"And you must be Lucy!" Ignoring everything about personal space and the strangeness of this situation, my mother pulled her in a hug. "It's so good to finally see you, I've heard great things."

"A-ah, it's nice to meet you, too, ma'am," she responded politely, awkwardly responding to the hug while looking over my mother's shoulder to make eye contact with me. I just stared blankly at the scene unfolding in front of me.

"Hey, is there someone-" A gasp cut off the voice coming from behind me, and I whirled around.

Timmy's eyes were wide and his mouth formed a perfect 'O', and finally my emotions seemed to return to me, starting with blind panic clawing in my stomach. Still, I stood rooted to the spot as I watched how my mother staggered towards my brother, her face a mixture of emotions I didn't have the energy or motivation to even attempt to identify.

"Mommy?" Timmy's voice was higher than normal, and then he hesitantly took a step forward. My mother bent through her knees until she was on the same level as Timmy, and then slowly held her arms out in a very obvious invitation.

"Hello, Timmy," she whispered in a choked voice.

"Mommy." Surprisingly – or perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising – a grin slowly appeared on Timmy's face. "Mommy!" He ran forward and straight into our mother's arms, who let out something between a sob and a laugh.

I stared at the scene, and closed my mouth when I realized it had been hanging open. Finally but slowly my functions returned to me, and I turned to glance at Dad, who was wiping his eyes, a smile on his face, though it disappeared when he caught my eye.

"Mommy? Mom?" Another voice joined Timmy's one, and then more, and I didn't need turn back to the scene to know that everyone had heard the uproar and had come to take a look, and that they were now having a happy family reunion. I still turned to look, anyway.

My mother's figure had completely disappeared under the wave of children, and for a moment I felt utterly alone. But not everyone had immediately jumped in, because both Forrest and Yolanda were standing further back, mixed emotions on their faces.

My mother's face was puffy and red but still held that wide grin when she emerged from the hug, and I saw how my oldest younger brother and sister stiffened when she looked at them.

My mother held out a hand, but this only seemed to fuel their hesitation. Yolanda shared a glance with Forrest, then looked at me. I stared at her searching, hopeful expression, and I had no idea how to respond. Her eyes flitted to Dad, who nodded with tears in his eyes. Lastly, Yolanda turned her eyes back to our mother, but Forrest continued looking at me, helplessly.

"Yolanda," my mother breathed, and Forrest looked back at her and Yolanda. "Forrest." Her voice broke, and a shudder ran through her.

"Mom…" Yolanda whispered, taking half a step forward. For a moment it seemed as if Forrest wanted to reach out to Yolanda, but he stopped himself.

"Oh my children…" Her arms were opened for a hug, and with a sob Yolanda threw herself into the embrace. Forrest's hand was half-heartedly raised, as if he had wanted to stop her, before he dropped it back at his side.

While rubbing Yolanda's back with one hand, she held her free hand out to Forrest, and I could imagine the pleading look on her face. Forrest took a step forward, and I looked away, and from the sounds I knew that he, too, had fallen.

I swallowed heavily, trying to keep the burning feeling that was crawling up my throat down. It was no use, and I felt the hotness crawling over my skin and spreading through my body. Balling my fists at my side, I ignored how Lucy tried to catch my eyes and hastily turned away. Dad attempted to catch my arm when I moved past him into the corridor leading towards the Gym, but I stalked right past him, and whatever words he spoke were lost to the ringing in my ears.

I picked up speed, my feet hitting the floor in rhythmic thumps that could not keep up with the beat of my heart. My eyes stung and I hated how the shady corridor became blurred. The openness of the Gym was a small relief and I continued running until I stood in the middle of the field, but my lungs still burned in a way that couldn't be from my short sprint.

I clenched my eyes shut and breathed heavily, my finger nails digging in my palm. I wanted to hit something. I opened my eyes and almost desperately looked around the field, but as this was a Rock Gym there was a definite lack of punchable objects.

Again, I turned around and around, my eyes searching for something…

The sudden vastness and emptiness of the field surrounding me on all sides hit me as if symbolism itself had punched me in the gut.

Alone. All on my own. Only me, myself-

"Brock!"

And Lucy.

She momentarily stood still in the door opening, before running towards me. I hadn't bothered with turning on the lights in the Gym, but even in this half-light I could see her utter confusion, and more apparent, her worry.

"Brock?" She came to a halt in front of me, her eyes searching my face and unconsciously, I took a step backward. Lucy startled at that, but then simply took another step forward.

"Brock?" Her voice had gentled though still carried the pitch of worry, and her warm hand landed on my arm. "What's going on?"

I only stared at her, my mouth half-opened in indecision. The burning rage was pushed back, but still simmered under the surface, and while the loneliness had felt suffocating and terrifying before, I now felt myself long back to it. I didn't want to answer questions, I didn't want to feel, I didn't want to deal with this, I couldn't-

Lucy's gaze was patient but unrelenting, and finally I attempted to choke out an answer. "My mother... she left years ago."

Lucy stared at me, her mouth opened a bit, before she seemed to shake off her daze and there was only sympathy on her face. Her hand gave my arm a light squeeze, and she took a step closer.

"Brock…"

 _No._ I didn't want- I didn't- I couldn't- It was just too much. The patient look in her eyes, the hand on my arm, Dad's teary smile, Timmy's look of disbelief and hope, Yolanda and Forrest's hesitation, Mom's hug-

I shook my head fiercely and stepped away from Lucy, pulling my arm out of her grip. My eyes begged her to understand it.

"I need to be alone," I said, my voice surprisingly coming out in a weak whisper. I repeated stronger, "I need to be alone."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed and she took a step towards me again. "Brock-" she attempted, but I shook my head again, more desperately now. Inwardly, the desires to either punch something, run as far as I could or hide under my covers and sleep until this was all over were fighting for dominance.

"Sorry, I just-" I couldn't explain it. Not now. _Definitely_ not now. I was out of control, I didn't know- I needed to get back in control of myself, needed- _"Please…"_ I was surprised by how desperate my voice sounded. "I need to be alone. I need to sort this out. I don't know- Dad- And the kids-"

She opened her mouth and her hand reached for me again, but then she pulled back and closed her mouth. A small, sad smile of understanding appeared on her face.

"I understand," she said, and nodded. "But… we'll talk about this later, okay?"

Wasting no time in taking this chance to get away, I quickly nodded.

"I'll... I'll just go get the groceries, okay?" I nodded to myself. "That's a good excuse to get away for a while, right?" I tried to joke, but it came out as a serious question. Lucy nodded in response, the sad smile still in place.

"Good- good luck," Lucy said in a strange sort of goodbye. I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Thank you," I whispered heavily, and I hoped she understood that I was thanking her for more than just that.

After another nod, I turned away from her and hastily walked to the exit of the Gym, before Lucy called, "Brock!"

I stopped, and half-turned.

"I…" She hesitated for a moment. "You know I'll always be here for you if you ever… need me."

I quickly nodded, then turned my eyes back to the exit of the Gym. For a moment longer I hesitated, an embarrassingly large part of me wanting to run back and bawl on her shoulder, but I mentally shook my head.

I walked out of the Gym, alone.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading! Yeah, this chapter wasn't really funny, and I had some difficulties writing it, loads of drama and angst and all XD Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed it.

Also, I'm participating in Camp NaNo this April, which is cool because I'll get a lot of writing done (hopefully) but it also means that any replies to reviews and PMs might be slow in that month. Just a heads up :P But don't worry, the next chapter should be up in three weeks! :D

Thank you very much for having patience with me and this story, it's really great that I get so much of a response. On that note, reviews are always welcome XD

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _First Encounters_ by _CookiesNCreamNess_. **FFN.** A short one-shot about Ash and Misty, PokéShipping and all, also some appearances of May and Gary and others. It's silly, but it made me grin and it's short and sweet, so give it a read!

 **Pokémon:** _Change For A Nickel_ by _Kevalier_. **FFN.** Really quite different than what I usually recommend, as this is a story about a Pokémon OC as main character. But the writing is superb, very funny, and the story seems very promising. It's a multi-chapter just starting out, but definitely worth reading!

 **Harry Potter:** _The Diaries of Scorpius Malfoy_ by _.nette_. **FFN.** Although sadly unfinished, this multi-chapter is very amusing nonetheless. Written in diary form and filled with jokes and witty language and sarcasm, Scorpius tells us about his rivalry with Rose – and how that changes XD Very funny!

Recommendations are welcome!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Poor Brock, having to suffer through all this drama… and it ain't gonna end soon! XD Thank you for your support, I'm very happy you're still enjoying this little tale. Here's the next chapter, prepare for trouble!

To _Guest_ : Yes, definitely a lot of drama! Thank you :D

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 7**

With a huff, I awkwardly managed to push the heavy paper bag in a higher and a tad more stable position against my body. It wasn't a very comfortable position, though. One bag of groceries dangled in one hand, while I tried with my other hand to prevent the second paper bag filled with greenery – amongst which were pointy beans poking in my torso – from falling.

It would have been much easier if I had the car with me, but since I had just stalked off to the city center without thinking about such practical things (I had just been too happy I had been able to escape), I would have to carry everything with my own hands. With another grunt, I continued dragging myself and the bags through Pewter City and back towards the Gym.

With a forced relaxed pace, unusual detours and excuses that sounded flimsy to even myself I had managed to extend my time away from home as long as possible, but now it was truly almost dinnertime and I was out of ways to procrastinate my return home. The further I got away from the center, the shops and restaurants making place for flats and houses, the less crowded it became. Still, it was lively enough, with cars and bicycles passing by, and small Pokémon scurrying around. Rattata in an alley, Pidgey on the roof, an Oddish walking after a young girl, a Meowth walking lonely on the sidewalk, a Squirtle being dragged along by a young trainer-

Wait, what?

Looking away from the struggling trainer, I quickly located the Meowth again on the opposite sidewalk. My eyes hadn't betrayed me: it was indeed a Meowth, its head low, front paws as if he had stuck them in his non-existent pockets and his hind legs dragging themselves slowly over the sidewalk.

Unable to fight my curiosity, I attempted to quickly cross the street, but both the traffic and the stupid bags slowed me down. Fortunately, with my long legs and Meowth's slow pace, I easily caught up with the Pokémon again.

I passed it, then awkwardly managed to bend down while at the same time continuing to walk, and so I finally got a good look at Meowth's face. I grinned. "Hey, Meowth."

The Pokémon looked up from the pavement, the shock on his face quickly replaced by recognition. "Twerp!"

I smiled pleasantly at him, and Meowth fumbled to correct himself. "Uh, I mean, Brock." He seemed to have some difficulty acclimating to this new situation of having to have a polite conversation with me, but then he pasted a grin on his face and slowed his pace to a more conversation-friendly speed. "Long time no see, huh?"

"You can definitely say that," I said as we came to a stop, and I placed my bags with groceries carefully on the ground, gladly taking this as an opportunity to rest and to procrastinate my return home. Besides, I truly was curious as to what Meowth was doing here, seemingly without his human companions. "What brings you to Pewter?"

Darkness flitted across Meowth's face. "No specific reason," he muttered, looking down at the ground again.

Now my curiousness was definitely peaked.

"Where are Jessie and James, are they here as well?" I kept my tone light as I tried to recall my last contact with the former Rockets. Hadn't they said they had wanted to open their own restaurant?

"Back in Kalos." Meowth shrugged, and his tone suggested he cared very little about that.

"Kalos?" I echoed, my surprise preventing me from adequately reacting to Meowth's strange tone.

"Yeah," he continued in the same tone, eyes still downcast. "Da ding in Johto went so well dey got an offer from some Kalosian big cheese and now dey got a hotel running dere."

It wasn't any of my business and Meowth seemed less than enthusiastic about having this conversation, but those things didn't stop me from asking more questions and meddling in things I should probably leave alone.

"Is..." I hesitated for a moment. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure, why- why wouldna it be?" Meowth finally looked up at me, giving me his best fake smile. I half-heartedly smiled back, not sure what else to say without making my interest in his personal affairs _too_ obvious.

"Well, anyway, I hafta be-"

"Would you like to join me for dinner?"

He stared at me with wide eyes, and I myself was also quite surprised at the words coming out of my mouth. But I just couldn't let him leave in a mood like that. I attempted to look natural as I gestured to the groceries with a grin.

"Wha- Really?" His face had lit up, though he quickly attempted to hide his happiness.

"Sure," I said easily, now knowing that I had made the right decision. I tried not to think of the drama I was about to pull Meowth in, though in the back of my mind the hope was forming that his presence would prove to be a sufficient distraction. "We're having some sort of a party anyway, so you're free to join… Unless you have somewhere else to be…"

"No, no," Meowth quickly assured me, then picked up one bag of groceries to show his willingness.

"Alright." I nodded, then picked up the remaining bag. "Let's go!"

Despite his initial happiness, Meowth was mostly silent during our walk to the Gym. I took it upon myself to fill the silence, telling him about Lucy, my siblings, mentioned the other 'twerps' and just in general kept the mood light and the awkwardness at bay.

I was in my element like this. I liked helping people, feeling useful, gaining their trust so that I could help them with their problems.

As the Gym building was becoming visible in the distance, the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grew. In a last ditch effort to delay the inevitable, I told myself that I couldn't enter this situation without knowing what exactly was going on with Meowth, and so I slowed to a stop, Meowth doing the same with a confused expression on his face.

I put the groceries bag on the ground and bent through my knees to come face-to-face with the Pokémon, whose expression went from surprised to suspicious.

Before I could open my mouth, Meowth had already caught on. "Oh no." His eyes widened. " _No._ I don't wanna talk about it."

"Meowth, I just want to help…" Despite my gentle words, he continued to surly look to one side. "What happened between you and Jessie and James?" Sometimes it was best to jump right in it. Not to mention that in this situation, I had no other ideas how to deal with this.

He let out a low growl. "Nothin' happened."

I continued to give him my best inquisitive stare.

"It ain't none of your business!" Meowth attempted again, but I wasn't going to give in and continued to unblinkingly stare at him.

"Fine!" He threw his hands in the air, before all fight seem to drain out of him. "Fine…" He let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping and his gaze back on the ground. "Jessie and James… dey're doing fine. Really fine. Dey're happy." His voice held a strange mixture of jealousy, hurt and happiness.

Something clenched in my stomach, and my expression softened. I waited patiently as he gathered his thoughts.

"Da hotel… it's goin' pretty well. Everyding is goin' well. Dey're busy, yeah, but dey're happy, and…" He let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, but I was able to make a pretty accurate guess.

"But they don't have time for you anymore," I said quietly.

"Dey're in love, what did ya expect? I understand," he muttered, still not looking at me. "I'll just… leave 'em be… Dey won't even miss me…"

My eyes burned, and I had to swallow the lump in my throat.

"Meowth..." I wasn't sure what to say, and I awkwardly put a hand on his shoulder. "I... I can't believe… I'm sure Jessie and James miss you. Really, a lot. They might be busy now, but you're part of their family. I'm sure," I repeated, gaining confidence as I spoke. Even though we had never been friends, it was hard not to get to know someone if they stalked you for years. And if there was one thing I knew for sure about them it was that there wasn't a Jessie and James without Meowth.

He sniffled, and after a moment of hesitation I tugged on his shoulder and he fell into my hug. As the Pokémon fought to regain control of himself and his emotions, my mind whirled with questions and half-formed solutions.

And although I knew I really, _really_ didn't need this, _too_ , with all the drama in my life, I couldn't _not_ help Meowth.

"We'll find a solution," I said with certainty as Meowth pulled away.

"Man, I'm pathetic," he said, in an equally pathetic attempt at a joke.

"I'd be pathetic too if I thought my family didn't want me anymore," I said, and my own words echoed in my head with a double meaning I didn't want to think about.

"We're almost there," I told him, getting up and picking up my groceries bag again. "We're going to have dinner and you're going to enjoy yourself, and afterwards we'll think on a solution. Okay?"

Meowth blinked a few times, and then nodded with a shimmer of determination. "Alright." He picked up his groceries bag as well, and side by side we walked on to my house and its hidden drama.

My own description of hidden drama turned out to be more true than I had initially thought, as the house was uncharacteristically silent, and I slowly made my way to the kitchen, Meowth following me as a shadow. I stayed silent as I placed the bags on the table and started emptying them.

"I thought ya had loads of siblings," Meowth remarked rather loudly after a moment, and I cringed and made shushing gesture.

"I do, I… uh…" My whisper dropped into nothingness as Forrest's figure appeared in the door opening.

We stared at each other for a long moment, Meowth's presence forgotten.

"Brock… You're back…" my brother said quietly, and I could only nod in response.

"Yeah…" I didn't know what else to say or to do. My eyes searched the room, until they caught sight of the paper bags on the table. With an unnatural smile, I grabbed one and held it up. "And I bought groceries…"

Forrest stared at me disbelievingly, and I slowly lowered the bag, feeling the smile slip off my face. His reaction was a painful reminder of the situation I had left behind here, and I regretted both leaving and coming back.

"Is Lucy still here…?" I asked carefully, and he nodded.

"She's back there…" He gestured behind him. "…with everyone else, waiting for you."

Now I cringed. "I'm… I'm sorry."

Forrest momentarily shut his eyes and shook his head. "Brock, you don't… I don't mean… I understand why, but…"

"I know," I said softly, looking away from Forrest pitying, understanding and still pleading gaze. For all that he hadn't finished his sentences, I knew what he was getting at. I didn't have to apologize. He hadn't meant to sound accusing. He understood I had run from this situation and Forrest, out of all of my siblings, understood my feelings on this subject probably best.

And he still wanted me to get over those feelings and join the family again.

Meowth then decided to take that moment to remind us of his presence here. "Well, _I_ don't know!"

Forrest jumped and turned to Meowth with wide eyes. "Who-"

"Meowth, nice to meet ya, and you-" The Pokémon turned to me, eyes narrowing. "-didna tell me 'bout dis drama goin' on here!"

"Brock, what… what's going on?" Forrest's eyes, first wide with confusion, now narrowed in suspicion.

I sweatdropped. "Eh… I can explain."

* * *

Dinner passed about as awkward and uncomfortable as I had expected it. In that regard, Meowth's presence was a blessing. His ability to talk had the kids – and Lucy as well – enraptured, and he gladly told the story of how he had gotten so far, and many other exaggerated adventure stories as well. His constant blabbering was a good excuse to not see the looks all occupants of the table occasionally sent me, and as soon as everyone was done eating, I was the first one to get up and shoo everyone out of the kitchen with the excuse that I had to do the dishes.

Or at least, I _attempted_ to shoo everyone out of the kitchen. My younger siblings listened well enough, and Meowth was gladly pulled along by them, but Forrest, Yolanda, Dad, my mother and Lucy all stuck around.

They shared looks in a way that made me uncomfortable, and then, as if by some unspoken agreement, they all left, with the exception of the raven-haired beauty.

"You wash, I dry?" Lucy offered, already starting to empty the table. The look she gave me suggested that more than just washing and drying would be going on (and that that 'more' wasn't going to be the 'more' I was hoping for) if all the previous hints hadn't made that obvious enough.

I let out a long, theatrical sigh and then joined her in emptying and cleaning the table. But for my semi-relaxed attitude, my mind was whirling with thoughts.

"I'm sorry," I said, after some silence. "I shouldn't have left you here like that, and I'm sorry."

"I agreed to it," Lucy answered. "It's okay. You needed time on your own."

Yes, I'd needed time. I'd needed time to get back in control, to somewhat regain my balance, to put my extreme emotions safely behind bars again. And I knew that these few hours hadn't been enough yet, even if I had found a nice distraction in Meowth-

An idea occurred to me.

"I… I think that you pretty much figured out that this family isn't as perfect as it sounded, eh?" I offered in a sad attempt at a joke as I filled the sink with hot water.

"They all seem nice," Lucy answered carefully. "Your younger siblings are very sweet, though they do have a lot of energy." I cracked a small grin at that. "But… your parents… something is up with them, right?"

It wasn't as tactfully worded as it could have been, but it did hit the nail on the head. I vaguely remembered that I had said something about my mother to Lucy back at my breakdown in the Gym, but I couldn't exactly recall what it was.

"Eh, yeah, indeed," I admitted, my hands automatically starting with washing the dishes even as my mind struggled to come with a proper explanation. I swallowed. "When I was eleven Dad left for a Pokémon journey. Mom stayed with us, but, well, you've seen how she is…" I tried to laugh it off, but it sounded hollow. "Anyway, she wasn't all that good at taking care of us, so I got quite handy at doing chores. And when I was almost thirteen…"

A silence followed, only disturbed by the sounds of water sloshing over the dishes and the soft clings of Lucy putting them on a nice pile.

I didn't want to talk about this. I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to forget about it all, but my mother's return had made that impossible. Besides, Lucy deserved an explanation. Communication was the key, wasn't it? _That_ one surely had come back to bite me in the behind.

"I don't want to talk about this," I told her honestly, and my voice didn't come out as strong and confident as I had hoped. "Not now," I amended in an attempt to pacify her. I actually never wanted to talk about it, but I doubted that was a possibility. Lucy hummed neutrally, but otherwise didn't react.

Her patient silence helped me gather my courage. I took a breath, momentarily closing my eyes. Just the facts. Stick with the facts.

"When I was almost thirteen," I continued. "My mother left. When I was fifteen, Dad returned. I left on my Pokémon journey with Ash and Misty."

There, the facts. Just the cold, hard facts, nothing more, nothing less.

"And when you returned from your journey?" Lucy hesitantly asked. "Your dad…?"

"He stayed." _He stayed._ "We made up-" _And he brought_ her _back._

My hands unconsciously clenched in the hot water, and my eyes burned even though I was sure no soap had gotten in. _Right, enough facts._

"I'm sorry that you were pulled into this," I said, forcing my emotions away. I was _not_ going to break down again. I needed to stay in control.

Very lightly, very carefully, I felt Lucy's hands on my upper arm. "It's okay, Brock, really. Thank you for explaining."

"Thank you," I whispered, still feeling like the dam I had built was about to break. Her hands gently squeezed, before letting go. My own hands hung uselessly in the warm water.

"Anyway," I tried to lighten the situation with some desperate humor, "as you can see, this isn't the greatest moment for a meet-the-family weekend."

Lucy let out a hollow chuckle, and her expression showed that she wasn't sure what I was getting at.

"So, I thought… Well, Meowth offered… His friends have a hotel in Kalos, perhaps we could… I mean, I don't want to be here right now, and-" I cut myself off in my jumbled proposition of the idea I had thought up. Meowth hadn't offered anything, but this was the perfect way for me to get away from home and at the same time I could help Meowth. That is, if I could manage to get out the right words.

I opened my mouth again in an attempt to make more sense, but Lucy was faster. "You want to go to that hotel for some time away… to think about everything…?" She didn't sound very certain, but the look of utter relief on my face confirmed it.

She smiled, though it looked somewhat forced. "Alright, then."

My relief ten-folded, and a grin broke out on my face.

"Great," I breathed, then turned to her and took her hands in my wet ones, before saying louder, "Great. Thank you so much." Her expression was still somewhat odd, but I was too happy with her agreement to really notice. " _Thank you._ I'll talk to Meowth and we'll be gone here as soon as possible, okay?"

She blinked. "We…" Then a real smile appeared on her face. "Yes, sure. That's… that sounds good." She paused. "Kalos, you said?"

I pressed a quick kiss on her lips and then nodded, still grinning. Her smile widened and a twinkle appeared in her eyes. "At least you picked somewhere romantic to go for your search of spiritual balance."

I chuckled and then let go to turn back to the dishes. "I guess that's Fate at work for you."

Lucy hummed something in the affirmative, and the rest of washing-up was spent in comfortable silence.

* * *

For a change, it seemed that luck was on my side. It had been surprisingly easy to convince Meowth to go to Kalos with me and Lucy with the excuse that I needed to get away from my family troubles for a while; I suspected that Meowth had found out that my siblings were more than he could deal with.

I hadn't specified our exact destination – the _Reaching for The Stars Above_ Hotel – but I couldn't imagine Meowth being so dense to not realize my ulterior motive.

And for all my stress and worries, Dad and Forrest had both proved to be more understanding than I had thought, and so Lucy, Meowth and I were now on an early morning flight to Kalos.

Meowth was staring out of the window, Lucy was staring at the aisle to her side, and I was staring at the chair in front of me as I was seated between them. Perhaps due to the early hour it was mostly silent on the plane, and combining that with a stable course and the lack of sleep pressing on my eyelids – with everything going on, I had hardly been able to properly sleep – I found myself dozing off.

Until, _of course_ -

"Will you please take care of my big brother?"

My much-needed sleep was loudly interrupted by high-pitched question, and I shot up in my uncomfortable chair, the muscles in my neck protesting painfully at the sudden movement.

"Bonnie! No!" a panicked male voice called, and my eyesight adjusted to the harsh lighting enough to see how a blond girl, no older than twelve, was being pulled away from my girlfriend by a boy who couldn't be anyone but her brother.

The boy was now apologizing profusely to Lucy, nervously adjusting his round glasses while at the same time keeping his sister behind his back. "I'm so, so sorry, she does that all the time, my apologies-"

Lucy was already assuring him that it was no problem, but the scene jogged something in the back of my mind.

"What- what's going on?" I asked, to which Lucy only responded with an equally confused expression and a shrug.

"My big brother will never find a wife like this!" the blond girl called from behind said big brother, who promptly turned red again and shushed her with an exasperated "Bonnie!"

A blond girl named Bonnie who asked women to marry her older brother-

"Whooz bein' so loud?" Meowth's voice came groggily from my other side, and his reaction confirmed my suspicions. "Hey! It's da twerps!"

This seemed to throw off even Bonnie and she blinked at the Pokémon, before a huge grin split her face.

"Meowth!"

"Er… hi." He awkwardly waved at her in response. From behind Bonnie, another girl hair stuck her head into view, a confused expression on her face.

"Meowth? What- what are you doing here?" The blond boy straightened up and his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, though his voice only held confusion.

"Meowth?" The other girl echoed, leaning further around Bonnie and giving me a better view of her: about fifteen years old, I guessed, and with short honey-colored hair and questioning blue eyes.

"Eh… hello," he repeated his awkward greeting, again waving with a sheepish grin on his face.

"What are you-" Before Bonnie could finish her accusing question, everything clicked, and I interrupted her with a loud cry of realization.

"Hey! I know you!" I pointed excitedly at the three of them, whose befuddled expressions told me they hadn't figured it out yet. "You're Bonnie, the girl always asks women to marry her brother-" Clemont turned red again, but Bonnie nodded enthusiastically, "-and you're Clemont, the inventor whose inventions- the inventor!" I cut myself off, not wanting to insult the boy by remarking that his inventions, as I had gathered from Ash's stories, hardly ever worked.

Lastly, I turned my attention to the other girl. "And you… Are you Serena?"

She nodded after some hesitation, and I could see the light of realization dawning in her eyes. I nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, Ash told me all about you guys." I grinned, patted myself on the chest and then held out my hand to Clemont, who stood the closest to me. "I'm Brock, Ash might have told you about me."

Recognition was now obvious on all three their faces, and they took turns shaking my and Lucy's hand. Lucy seemed confused, and it took us several interrupted, messy attempts of explaining before the story was clear to everyone.

The Kalosian trio explained that they were on their way home, while we quickly whipped up the excuse that Lucy and I were going on a romantic holiday to the hotel of Meowth and the Rockets (and the way Meowth cringed didn't escape my notice).

"Oh yeah." Clemont nodded. "I've heard more often that couples go to Kalos to fix their relationship problems-" He then seemed to realize what he had said, and with a bright red face, he quickly corrected himself, "Not- not that I meant you have relationship problems! I just meant, that- that, you know, Kalos is the region of romance, and, uh-"

"Just give it up, big brother." Bonnie patted his arm while Lucy and I shared a laugh. Clemont apologized, but still, his previous words rang in my mind. Lucy and I didn't have relationship problems… right? No, no, our dates were wonderful, they just got interrupted a lot, but she knew that I had to help my old clients-

Wait, she did know that, right?

"Say, Lucy," I said in a low voice, though I kept my eyes on the three Kalosians. "Did I ever tell you why our dates kept getting interrupted by phone calls from my friends?"

She blinked, then shook her head slightly. "There's a reason?"

Serena patted Clemont's hand as she said something, which caused him to blush slightly and stutter out a response, and the scene distracted me for a moment.

"Yes, there's a reason," I said, nodding and turning my attention back to Lucy, while in the back of my mind puzzle pieces were falling together. "It's because I'm a matchmaker."

Lucy's raised eyebrows were the only signs of her disbelief, the rest of her expression was polite curiousness. "A… matchmaker?"

"Yes, a matchmaker," I said, pride seeping in my voice. My eyes fell back to the three teenagers on the other side of the aisle. "I helped some of my younger friends with finally facing their feelings and getting together with their crush. And they interrupted our dates because…" I trailed off, my attention caught by the way Serena was watching Clemont as he seemed to be explaining something to Bonnie. A sly smile grew on my face.

"Brock?" Lucy called me back to earth.

"Oh, right, they kept interrupting our dates because they still needed my advice," I continued distractedly.

"Really." The disbelief in Lucy's voice did manage to catch my attention, and I turned back to her.

"Don't believe me?" I grinned confidently, a plan already formed in my mind. "Watch this." And with a wink, I got up and crossed the aisle to couple my new lucky victims.

* * *

 **A/N:** Looks like Brock can't resist one last matchmaking scheme! Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you liked it. As I mentioned before, I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month, which means that by the end of this month, I will hopefully have finished writing this story, and then updates should be fast :D We still have about two, three more chapters left, I think. See you in three weeks, and thank you for reading, please share your thoughts with me!

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _The Troublesome Color Green_ by _Cheeno_. **FFN.** A short, finished multi-chaptered story about May and her new Pokémon, and also about a certain annoying green-haired rival. Cute and with beautiful descriptions, check it out!

 **Pokémon:** _unprofessional amour_ by _pyr0technic_. **FFN.** A funny one-shot about fake dating and meddling mothers and sisters. Contains humor, PokéShipping, a Delia and Daisy friendship and a dense Ash, plus a realistic ending.

 **Harry Potter:** _Principles of Attraction_ by _kel_ _. kel . 153_ (remove the spaces I put in, because otherwise FFN removed the name, thinking it was an URL). **FFN.** A short, funny story in which Scorpius tells Rose why they, according to all romance novels, should be having a passionate and dangerous forbidden romance. Sadly unfinished, but still worth a read.

Please feel free to send me your own recommendations!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I know I keep saying it, but I have to say it again: thank you so much! If it wasn't for all your support, I doubt this story would be like it is now. But I won't keep you any longer with more of my babbling, so here's the next chapter!

To _Guest_ : Thanks a lot for your review :D

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 8**

"Brock!" Before I could put my admittedly still very vague plan into practice, Bonnie's excited greeting already interrupted it.

"Hey, Bonnie," I said a bit distractedly, my eyes on Serena and Clemont. Then another one of my many great moments of genius hit me, and with bright eyes I now turned my full attention to Bonnie. "Hey, Bonnie!" I repeated enthusiastically. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

Bonnie hid her surprise quickly, but Serena and Clemont gave me strange looks and I fumbled for an excuse. "I… uh… I need her advice…" More strange looks. "On girls! Yeah! Ash said Bonnie was very knowledgeable when it comes to romance…"

Bonnie looked very enthusiastic now – which was a little bit scary – and though the two teenagers looked even more suspicious and confused than before, they seemed to accept my explanation. I quickly hid my relief behind an innocent smile, though that didn't seem to lessen their suspicion either.

"Alright, come on!" Bonnie had already skipped off down the aisle, and I quickly followed after her. I was not nearly as graceful as she had been, my bigger and broader and a lot more clumsy body hampering me as I attempted to navigate through the narrow aisle without accidentally hitting anyone. I could see Lucy following us with a curious gaze, and I grinned confidently at her.

"So, Lucy was her name, right?" Bonnie said after she had pulled me in an empty row of seats. Her grin was still miles wide, and she watched me with expectant and sparkling eyes. Now I felt bad about my little lie, but I did actually need her help with girls, just not with Lucy.

"Eh, look, Bonnie, I actually don't need advice about girls…" Bonnie's disappointment was obvious, but I still grinned, hoping my enthusiasm would be contagious. "I actually wanted to help you with your brother…"

"My brother…" she repeated slowly, eyebrows furrowing.

"He's not really handy when it comes to romance, eh?" I elaborated. "And I bet he was never really interested in those women you proposed to…"

She shook her head. "Nu-uh, but I keep trying, because there has to be _one_ he likes, right?"

There was a hopeful and expectant expression on her face, and I leaned closer with a conspiring smile. "Did you ever consider that what you were looking for was right in front of you all the time?"

Bonnie blinked in confusion.

"I'm a matchmaker, did you know?" I said with no small amount of pride. "I notice things like this. And right now, I'm definitely noticing a thing between Clemont and…"

"…Serena," Bonnie and I said simultaneously. Her eyes were wide in quiet realization before they were squeezed shut when the girl squealed loudly with joy.

"Shhh," I quickly shushed her, but already several people had turned their head to see what was going on, including Lucy and Clemont. I shot them an apologizing smile, then turned back to Bonnie.

"So, I want to match them, but I can't do it alone." Bonnie's smile grew to enormous proportions, and before I had even voiced my question, she was already nodding enthusiastically.

"What's the plan, Brocko?" She beamed.

Uhm, right, the plan. With fake confidence, I grinned. "I'm going to talk with them, and I'm, ah, going to make some suggestions…" I winked. "You're a smart girl, I'm sure you know just what to say at what moment, m'kay?"

"So… I just have to say the right thing at the right moment?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

Well, if one put it like that, it did sound daunting. "Don't worry," I said patronizingly, patting her head. "I've got faith in you, this'll go splendidly. Just trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Before Bonnie could say anything else, I got up and walked back to the group, and Bonnie had no other choice but to stop asking questions and follow.

"Doesn't sound like much of a plan," she muttered, pouting.

It _wasn't_ much of a plan, I admitted that much. But I was at my best when improvising, and perhaps I didn't _really_ need Bonnie's help, but it was obvious that the girl liked meddling and I'd rather have her on my side than against me.

"No need to worry," I echoed Dawn's catchphrase, internally wishing for a little bit of her advice. She had been an enormous help in matching the Rockets. Really, perhaps I wasn't such a great matchmaker, working without a plan and without really knowing my clients-

 _No._ Now was not the time for doubt. I puffed out my chest and put on my best confident grin. Now was the time to be confident and to matchmake.

"So… er, did it help?" Serena greeted us somewhat uncomfortably.

"Yup, sure did," Bonnie said cheerfully, nimbly passing me and sliding back in her chair at the window. Perhaps I had underestimated her, I thought to myself, she had caught on to the improvising part quickly. I grinned with the same confidence and leant quasi-relaxed against Clemont's chair, and neither Serena nor Clemont questioned us any further.

"So, anyway…" I started off. "What brought you to Kanto? Travelling?"

"Yeah," Bonnie answered enthusiastically, not giving the others a chance to respond as she rattled breathlessly, "I was on my Pokémon journey through Kanto, and Serena and Clemont came to watch me in the League, and we made it in a mini-vacation!"

"Yes," Clemont confirmed, though a lot calmer than his sister. "Bonnie did pretty well, not?" There was obvious pride in his voice, and Serena nodded in agreement while Bonnie pulled out a case with badges.

"Impressive," I said. There was also a Pewter badge, but I didn't recall her (and I'm sure I would've remembered a girl like her), so Dad must've given her it.

"I didn't get very far in the League, though," Bonnie said with obvious disappointment, and Serena patted her shoulder.

"There's always next year," the girl said cheerfully, and Bonnie nodded with renewed confidence.

"So you two came to Kanto together?" I asked Serena and Clemont, steering the conversation in the right direction. They nodded, and I looked at them intently and pretended to think deeply while stroking my chin, and then nodded to myself. "Yes, yes, you two do indeed make a cute couple."

"W-w-what?!" Clemont was the first to react, turning bright red as he fumbled for a response. "No- I- we- no-"

"N-no, it's not like that," Serena helped him out, actually able to get out a whole sentence, in contrast to Clemont. She did have a pink tinge to her cheeks, though.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Lucy watching me and my conversation with the Kalosians. She seemed both intrigued and embarrassed by my behavior and I knew I had to show her a real success if I wanted to impress her. A full out confession, a make out session, something obvious at least.

"Really?" I said, quasi-surprised. "The way Ash talked about you, I really thought you two were… You sure you aren't in a relationship?" I smiled slyly. Of course they were sure about something like that, but I wasn't going to be subtle right now.

"No, no, we're just friends." Serena let out a nervous giggle, and Clemont nodded enthusiastically in agreement, his embarrassed giggle even higher than Serena's.

I shrugged, trying to downplay my embarrassing question. "I've known more than enough 'just friends' who turned out to be more." I gave Clemont a pointed look.

"Like Ash and Misty!" Bonnie exclaimed, and I nodded in satisfaction. Like I had thought, the girl was smart, she knew when she could say something and when she had to keep her mouth shut.

"Yes, just like that!" I nodded, and I was about to say more when Serena got up.

"I have to go the toilet," she excused herself in a quiet voice, not quite looking at any of us.

I blinked. That was strange-

"I have to go, too," Lucy spoke up, and before I could ask what was going on, she had already hurried after the Serena.

And that was even stranger. Was it something I said…?

"Women always go to the toilet together…?" Clemont offered as an explanation, and I realized that my confusion must have been visible on my face.

 _No matter_ , I though, disregarding it for now. This opportunity was too good to pass up, the perfect moment to have a man-to-man talk with Clemont. With a grin which could probably be described as predatory, I slid in the chair Serena had just left.

"So Clemont, tell me, you were denying any feelings for Serena quite passionately… hm?"

"Wha-what?" He attempted to look like he had no idea what I was talking about, but his blush gave him away. Although I had to admit that he did blush quite a lot. Poor guy. "I- I have no idea what you're talking about." He tried to sound calm, but he didn't fool me.

"Oh please big brother, just admit that you're in love with Serena!" Nor did he fool Bonnie, apparently, though it might have been wishful thinking on her part. She sounded like she was both pleading and calling him out on his lie. His sister's loud exclamation only seemed to make Clemont withdraw even further, though, and I gave her look.

"Look, Clemont," I said, in a more gentle voice. "If I do say so myself, I'm a pretty good matchmaker, and I notice things…" I smirked. "Really, your feelings for Serena are _obvious_."

His eyes widened and just like that, I knew I had him.

 _"_ _Obvious?"_ he squeaked, then seemed to catch himself. "I- I mean, I don't have any feelings for-" I was probably looking too self-satisfied, because unexpectedly, the meek boy seemed to grow a backbone. "And it's not any of your business anyway!"

I was momentarily stunned into silence by this sudden turnaround, but now Bonnie's presence came in handy.

"But you're my big brother, I just want to help!" Bonnie exclaimed.

By the look on his face, it seemed that he and Bonnie had had arguments like this before, and for a moment I thought he wanted to say something, before he deflated.

"I know." He sighed. "I know you just want to help – both of you," he said, glancing at me. "But… you know… Sometimes it's better to wait."

"But sometimes you have to act," I argued. "You can't wait forever."

"No, that's right, but…" Clemont shook his head. He seemed to struggle with what to say next, and his expression held some sort of strange desperation that seemed to beg us to understand something he wasn't saying out loud. "Now it's better to wait," he concluded.

I wanted to say something, but his expression and the tone of his voice made me hesitate.

"But-" Bonnie started, but stopped when her brother got out of his chair to kneel in front her, his hands placed on her shoulders.

"Bonnie, please," he said with urgency, almost pleadingly. "You know… Serena…" He gave Bonnie an intent look, and after a moment, her eyes widened.

"Oh," she said simply, before repeating in a dejected voice, "Oh. Yeah…" She looked at me, her expression a mixture of disappointment and understanding. "Yeah, big brother is right. Sometimes it's better to wait."

Clemont nodded at his sister with what seemed to be both sadness and satisfaction, before he got back in his chair.

 _What am I missing?_

"Wh-what?" I stuttered in confusion, "But-"

"Brocko, my friend," Bonnie said patronizingly, and copied her brother by moving in front of me and placing her small hands on my shoulders. "Trust your colleague matchmaker in this. I know what I'm doing."

Clemont watched us with a raised eyebrow, while I just stared open-mouthed at Bonnie. I was definitely missing something. Why was she giving up? We had been so close to our goal, Clemont had already practically admitted his feelings, we just needed to convince him to confess, and then-

But no matter what questions I asked – _do you two already have a relationship? Did she reject you? Did something else happen? Is there someone else?_ – or how I argued and pleaded – _but why not? You two would be so good together, Bonnie thinks so as well, please tell me why_ – neither of the siblings enlightened me.

It was clear Serena was in some way involved, but it also was clear that whatever it was, it was personal and they weren't going to tell me, so I finally gave up, not wanting to antagonize them with my childish behavior.

As an awkward silence fell and the two siblings returned to their individual activities, I spent some time silently whining to myself, then brooded about what could possibly be going on, and it was only when I came back to reality that I realized that Lucy and Serena still hadn't returned.

For my male ego it was of course a good thing that Lucy hadn't seen this failure at matchmaking, but seriously, what was taking them so long?

"Uhm…" I broke the silence, which caused Bonnie to look up from her videogame and Clemont from his book. "Lucy and Serena-"

"-are back!" I heard Lucy's voice call from behind, and we all craned our necks to face them. Lucy's smile was somewhat odd, and Serena's too bright smile couldn't stop me from noticing her slightly reddish eyes.

Clemont and Bonnie greeted them, and I automatically did so as well as I moved back to my own chair. I waited until Lucy was properly seated next to me again (Meowth was fast asleep on my other side) before I looked at her questioningly.

She gave me a mysterious smile, and it was only when Serena was properly engaged in a conversation with Clemont and Bonnie that Lucy leaned closer to me.

"And matchmaker, how did it go?" she asked in a low voice, an unusual smirk on her face.

"Ah- uh, I uhm…" I flustered and fumbled for a response, before finally admitting, "I don't know what's going on. They're all acting really strange…"

Lucy looked very satisfied with herself, and I quietly gasped in realization. "You do know what's going on!"

Lucy quickly glanced at the three Kalosians, but they weren't paying us any attention, and then answered, "I do have a pretty good idea…"

I looked at her expectantly, but Lucy first felt the need to tease me a bit more, a playful smirk on her face.

"For all your greatness as a matchmaker, you didn't notice Serena's reactions, did you?" Despite the teasing note in her voice, I could hear that it was a serious question.

"Well, uh, Serena… she was looking at Clemont… and she looked interested in him, and, I mean, I just had this gut feeling…" _Really, she looked interested?_ That was pretty weak to base a whole matchmaking scheme on, I realized when looking back on it.

"She is," Lucy confirmed to my surprise. "Sort of. She's confused." She smiled sadly. "She has a broken heart."

I blinked, then nodded slowly as the situation started to make more sense. Clemont and Bonnie had known that, but…

"How did you figure that out?" A note of awe had crept in my voice, and Lucy blushed.

"I notice these things," she said with a wink, before responding seriously, "I noticed that Serena was upset when she excused herself, so I followed her. I talked with her, and she told me."

"Wow…" I truly had an amazing girlfriend. "But… why would Serena be upset…" I wondered out loud. "We were just talking about… oh."

Now that I thought back to my conversations with Ash about Kalos, Ash had mentioned that Serena did sometimes act strange around him, but of course _he_ had never realized why she had blushed or stuttered, he had just assumed she was shy.

"Hm-hm," Lucy hummed in agreement, before looking at me expectantly, and though unsure where she was going with this, I told her my own findings.

"Well, uh, I figured out that Clemont does really like her…" She nodded encouragingly when I paused, and I continued again, "But he wanted to wait, and with Serena's broken heart, I guess that's best…" Slowly a realization formed in my mind. "They'll get together in their own time…?"

I looked at Lucy uncertainly, and she beamed at me. "Exactly." She wrapped her arms around my arm and leaned against me. "See, Brock, you don't have to control everything." She glanced at Serena, Clemont and Bonnie, before looking back at me with a smile. "Sometimes you just have to let things run their natural course."

I blinked, and my mouth was half open as I considered her words, before I closed it and nodded slowly. I looked at how happily Clemont and Serena were conversing, before looking back at Lucy with a smile.

"I… I guess you're right," I said, unable to keep the wonder out of my voice. "Yeah… you're right." I didn't need to control everything. Sometimes you just had to… let go. Plus, It was completely impossible to control _everything_ , anyway.

Lucy hummed again. "But still," she said after a moment, and I followed her gaze to see how Serena seemed to slightly blush at something Clemont had said, "I get why you like matchmaking. It's pretty satisfying, hm?"

She smiled at me, and I pulled my arm out of her grip to put it around her shoulders. I grinned widely at her. "Absolutely."

Yes, it was very satisfying, and even if I couldn't control everything, well, that was just what made it so much fun, wasn't it?

* * *

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. I finally managed to get my much-needed sleep, and we didn't crash, which was a nice change from my usual flights. Especially flights with Meowth.

At the airport, we said our goodbyes to Clemont, Bonnie and Serena, but only Bonnie seemed truly regretful to see us go. I couldn't really blame Serena and Clemont for that, because if people barely more than strangers started nosing around in my personal business, I would've been glad to see them go as well.

From the airport, we took a cab to the _Reaching for the Stars Above_ hotel, and from that moment on Meowth had grown silent. Lucy was still unaware that there were problems between Meowth and Jessie and James, but as I had already told her about my matchmaking (and after non-verbally gaining permission from Meowth) I told her that as well.

When I finished the story, Lucy was silent for some time, but when she spoke, shock, disbelief and outrage fought for dominance in her voice. "So you think that they don't want you around anymore?"

Meowth didn't answer, instead turning further away from us and staring intently out of the window.

"I couldn't believe it, either," I said, patting her hand, then leaned closer to her and said in a low voice, "I _really_ can't believe it, there has to be a misunderstanding somewhere…"

The cab dropped us off at the beginning of the street at our request, and we walked the rest of the way to the hotel. As the building came in sight – nothing fancy, but Meowth pointed it out to us – we stopped and considered our plan.

Meowth refused to simply walk back in there, and so I, brilliant as I am (if I do say so myself), came up with the solution to disguise Meowth. However, that plan was thrown out of the window as, for one, it would be strange for Lucy and I to bring someone with us on our supposed romantic getaway, and secondly, James and Jessie could probably see through all disguises Meowth put on.

So now Lucy had put him in her bag, and that was how we entered the hotel. Me, Lucy, and Meowth in a bag.

It was a nice hotel, I decided upon further inspection. It didn't appear very big, but it was neat and clean looking, which was always a plus. The entrance lead in what seemed to be in a cozy café, but behind the bar slash counter, I could see a corridor and stairs, so I assumed that the actual hotel rooms were situated in the back.

I was pleasantly surprised by how crowded the café was, filled with people who were relaxing with a cup of coffee or already enjoying an early lunch. Jessie stood out with her long red hair, but other than that, she looked very unfamiliar.

She was smiling, for one. And not in an evil way.

For several moments, I was completely stunned and could only watch with my jaw on the floor as she interacted with the customers, seemingly holding a friendly conversation. Fortunately for my sense of normalcy, the familiar Jessie appeared again when she returned to the kitchen behind the bar, where I could hear her yell at James.

Lucy gave me a dubious look. "That's… Jessie?"

"The one and only," I said with a wry grin. "Shall we go check in?"

"If we have to," Lucy joked. We rang the bell on the counter, and surprisingly enough, both the former Rockets appeared, but Jessie passed us without a second glance as she carefully balanced a full tray, while James greeted us with a welcoming smile.

"Hello," Lucy greeted him friendly.

"Hello, how can I help yoouu…?" James's jaw dropped when he noticed me, and the last part of his question was stretched out as he tried to recover from the surprise. I put on my best shocked expression.

"James?" I said, disbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Wh-what are _you_ doing here?" he echoed.

"Well, I'm here with my girlfriend, wanting to get a few days of relaxation," I answered fast, too fast. Too fast for someone who was supposed to be shocked to see their former nemesis at the hotel he was planning to stay at. Fortunately, James was too busy with his own shock to notice my lack of it.

James needed a few more moments to recollect himself, but then he smiled brightly and extended his arms in a true showman gesture. "Then you're here at the right place! In the _Reaching for the Stars Above_ hotel we don't settle for anything less than the stars, so you are guaranteed perfection!" He ended with a wink and a wide smile.

"You started your own hotel?" I asked, pretending to be interested in the story I had already heard from Meowth. Lucy nudged me and this time my blush of embarrassment wasn't pretend. "Oh, how rude of me, sorry." I smiled apologetically at Lucy. "James, this is my girlfriend, Lucy, and Lucy, this is James... an old friend."

Lucy smiled friendly and shook James's hand in greeting. Nothing in her expression or posture suggested that she knew more than what James thought she knew.

"Nice to meet you," James returned the greeting, but he sounded somewhat distracted. "So, uh, how long will you be staying?"

"Oh, we don't know yet, we just did this spontaneously," I evaded his question with ease and moved the conversation in the right direction again. "It's really impressive you, Jessie and Meowth managed to get this hotel up and running."

It was impossible not to see James flinch at Meowth's name, though he bravely tried to keep smiling. "Yeah," he squeaked. "Impressive, I guess…"

"Where's Meowth, anyway?" I asked nonchalantly, and now James couldn't keep it up any longer, his smile disappearing and tears welling up in his eyes.

"Meowth…" James sniffled, seeming close to breaking down, but before he could say more, Jessie appeared and took a defensive stand in front of her man, her eyes ablaze.

"Alright, twerp, what's going on?" she demanded with barely contained fury, and for a moment it was as if nothing had changed between us. Reflexively, I let out a not-so-manly squeak, but Lucy came to my rescue.

"We were just asking about Meowth," she said with an innocent smile.

Jessie's face crumbled and she breathed in sharply, and behind her, James let out another sniffle. She turned sharply and keeping a tight grip on James's arm, she pulled him along and they disappeared in through a door.

Lucy and I shared a hesitant look.

"Best follow them," I said after a moment, and she nodded.

"They were almost in tears," I heard Lucy say in a low voice to the bag in her hands as we went behind the bar.

Meowth said something in reply, but his voice was muffled by the fabric of the bag. Lucy did seem to hear him, though, and she nodded.

"He wants to know a bit more before he comes out," she told me quickly before we passed through the same door as the former Rockets, and I nodded once in acknowledgement.

We entered a small hallway, and Jessie seemed to be in control of her emotions once again, but only barely. James's eyes were still red and teary as he stood behind Jessie, holding onto her arm as if it was a lifeline.

"Meowth is gone," Jessie snarled at us as soon as she noticed our presence.

"Gone… where?"

"We don't know," James said, letting out another sniffle. "He just… one day, he was just gone-" His voice broke.

"Stupid selfish cat!" Jessie burst out, and her voice rose in pitch and volume as she raged. "How dare he leave us?! We need him here! He's part of the team, he can't go solo! He belongs with us!" At the end she let out a loud sob and hid her face in James's embrace.

I stared in poorly hidden shock at the emotional scene, and James caught my eye as he patted her on the back. He gave us a helpless and even somewhat apologetic look. "It's the hormones."

"Hormones…?"

"Er, yeah, we're expecting. Just three months along, actually." The corners of James's mouth pulled upwards in pride and happiness, contrasting with his red eyes.

My jaw dropped and I could only stare.

The parents-to-be seemed to ignore my shock. "And Meowth left! How can we ever be a family if he isn't here?!" Jessie wailed, her sharp voice muffled by James's chest, and he patted her back again, mumbling quiet words of comfort.

"Congratulations," Lucy said, managing to deal with the shock quick enough. I wasn't as fast, my mouth still hanging open and yet no sound coming out – I had never expected my matchmaking schemes would bear fruit so soon, if you catch my drift – but Lucy's bag voiced my thoughts.

"Ya're pregnant?!" The zipper opened from the inside and with wide eyes Jessie and James watched how their missing team member ungracefully tumbled out of a black handbag.

Meowth was quick to jump back to his feet, pointing an accusing finger to Jessie and repeating his question loudly. "Ya're _pregnant?!_ "

"Meowth!" the former Rockets exclaimed simultaneously, James in happiness, but Jessie sounded furious. Both attempted to take hold of the Pokémon at the same time, but Jessie was the fastest and Meowth was pulled up at his non-existing collar.

"How could you leave us?! What kind of a teammate are you?! How-"

"Meowth, you're back!" James swiftly managed to pull the Pokémon free from Jessie's grip before she could get violent, and Meowth was now smothered in a hug. "It's so wonderful that you're back! We missed you so much!"

"You can never leave again!" Jessie added with vigor, before joining James in his endeavor to squeeze Meowth to death.

I grinned at Lucy in satisfaction, and she smiled back.

"It's so good to see a family back together," she said, and I felt my grin diminish. Yes, it _was_ good to have family back together…

Lucy sensed my shift of mood and took my hand in hers. "It'll be okay, Brock."

James, Jessie and Meowth were still hugging, laughing, and even crying a bit – but they looked so happy. I momentarily closed my eyes, breathed in deeply before slowly breathing out through my nose, and then I pushed my shoulders back and made my decision.

"Hey guys, not to interrupt or anything, but we're going to our room, okay?" I said, and the three former Rockets looked at us but didn't break their hug.

"Sure ding," Meowth said. "Just take one of da keys."

"Take number eleven," James said, and he seemed to hesitate, half pulling himself free from the hug. "I'll be there-"

"Oh no, don't worry," Lucy quickly caught on and assured him that we could find it on our own.

"You three… four… have more important matters than us," I said. "Take your time, we'll be okay."

Before they could continue to half-heartedly protest, I had pulled Lucy back into the main room.

"Number eleven," Lucy said, locating the key first. She held it up, a teasing smile on her face but the question in her eyes was genuine. "And now what's the plan, Brocko?"

I attempted a confident grin as I accepted the keys. My hands were sweaty and suddenly my mouth was dry, but I pushed through with my plan anyway.

"Now," I said, pausing to take a deep breath and Lucy's teasing smile disappeared in favor of a serious expression. "Now I'm ready to talk."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Phew, this one was a difficult one as well, with all the drama and emotions and all. But it was fun, we're definitely making some progress. A lot of progress, actually, because the next chapter is the last one, already! In fact, I've got it already written and almost done, I just need to make some last minor adjustments. And because I've all kept you waiting for so long, the next chapter will be up next week! Anyway, thank you very much for reading this chapter, and please leave me a review!

Thank you!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Mud Puddles_ by _Illusions of Insanity_. **FFN.** A funny and sweet one-shot about how Paul gets a call from Dawn, who needs his help because of course she has once again managed to get herself in trouble… Check it out!

 **Pokémon:** _BadgeQuest_ by _Cyberwraith9._ **FFN**. This is a very epic adventure story featuring Ash, Brock and Misty, with a complicated plot, humor, drama and a touch of PokeShipping as well. It's an old story, even its sequels are old, but that really adds to the feeling of nostalgia. Definitely recommended!

 **Harry Potter** _: Dear Fanfiction Writers_ by _PrincessAmelie09_. **FFN**. I think the title tells you all about the content of this story. These are short, hilarious letters from the Harry Potter characters to the fanfiction writers, and they're just… really funny :D It's not too long, either, so give it a look!

I would love to hear any recommendations from you!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Last but definitely not least… The last chapter of Brocko's journey! Thank you all so much, and please enjoy!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).**

* * *

 **Leave Brocko Alone!**

 **Chapter 9**

"Thank you, Mr. Harrison, that was all," Dr. Mendoza said, nodding at me. My smile was pasted on my face as I watched her rise from the chair, soon followed by the other two members of the PhD committee. The three women nodded and smiled at me, and I was all too glad to leave the stage.

The smile stayed on my face as I took my place in the front row, between Lucy and Dad, but as soon as the committee disappeared in the other room, I sagged in my chair and the smile fell from my face. My cheeks hurt from keeping up that polite smile for so long, and I let out a long breath.

"Don't worry, Brock, you did great," Lucy said, taking my sweaty hand in hers.

"Exactly, Brock, you've got nothing to worry about." Dad clapped me on the shoulder with a bit too much force, but he was beaming in pride and I couldn't help but tiredly smile back.

"I'm very proud of you, Brock." From Dad's other side Mom's smiling face appeared, and after a moment of hesitation, she lightly patted my knee. "I'm sure you'll pass."

It was still odd and sometimes awkward and uncomfortable to have my mother back in my life. But… it was also kind of nice.

After having reunited Meowth with Jessie and James – whose neglect had stemmed from the unexpected pregnancy – and seeing them so happy together, I had made my decision regarding my mother.

Of course, doubts had resurfaced when I had finally, _finally_ spoken about this in depth with Lucy, but in the end, the love for my family had prevailed. I had to admit that without Lucy, I undoubtedly would have had a lot more difficulty in dealing with these issues. She had been patient and understanding as I had sorted through my thoughts and feelings, and she had helped immensely by asking the right questions at the right time. How she had done it, I had no idea, but it had felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

When our impromptu Kalosian holiday came to an end, and it was time for me to face my parents and siblings again, I (and I'm not proud to admit this) had once again tried to scramble out, but Lucy had stayed at my side and (forcibly) reminded me of our conversation and my decision, and we pulled through.

Of course there had been some difficulties, and in no way my relationship with my parents was now completely fixed. I had not expected otherwise. The initial confrontation had been tearful and had involved a lot of hugging, and though I had made clear that not everything was forgiven or forgotten yet, at least we had made the first steps in the right direction.

Things between my siblings and I had been back to normal within a few days, and Dad and I were on good terms again after a few weeks. But Mom…

She had tried, very hard and sometimes painfully obvious, to show us how much she loved us and how sorry she was and all that- And really, that hadn't helped me any, because it had been a constant reminder of what had gone wrong. Although, on the other hand, if she had presumed to act completely normal, I undoubtedly wouldn't have liked it either.

Still, as the days had passed into weeks, normalcy had started to set in anyway. It had been strange to give up the control in the household; before, it was me who decided what we had for dinner, it was me who did the cooking, and it was me who did the cleaning up after (okay, Dad did help at times, but it was mostly me). Now, it had become quickly a habit to let Mom help with the cleaning up, and then she had also been doing the groceries, and before I knew it, she had been helping me cook.

At first, I had let all of that happen, keeping in mind Lucy's comment about how I liked to control everything and how sometimes you just had to let go, but at that point I had put my foot down.

 _A breath whooshed out of me, and though I hadn't intended it, this seemed to be enough to draw my mother's attention._

 _She turned away from the kitchen counter with a smile on her face. "Hello, Brock." She had a spoon in one hand, and her eyes shone brightly. "Is there something I can help you with?"_

 _For a moment I hesitated. She looked so happy like this, and the food smelled good, and-_

 _She was wearing_ my _apron._

 _"_ _Yes, actually…" Her smile fell at my serious demeanor. "You're taking over the household."_

 _That came out as more of an accusation than I had meant it, and my mother cringed._

 _"_ _I- I mean," I attempted to correct myself. "You're doing my job."_

 _She cringed again, and this time I did so as well; that had been even more of an accusation than my earlier statement._

 _"_ _Right." My mother nodded and swallowed, her smile now gone as if it had been never there. "I'm sorry." She seemed as if she wanted to say more, but then she placed the spoon on the counter and took off the apron._

 _"_ _No, no, I don't mean-" Well, I actually had meant it, but I hadn't meant to make my mother look so miserable. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong… I meant…"_

 _Now my mother smiled sadly. "It's okay, Brock. I- It was my job, and I gave it up. And… I never realized how stupid that was until it was too late." She swallowed. "But you're right. I'm sorry." There were tears in her eyes when she attempted to smile at me, and she blindly shoved the apron at me as she walked past me._

 _"_ _Mother… Mom…"_

 _She stopped and turned back around. "It's okay, Brock, really." This time, her smile was a bit more convincing, the tears blinked away, but I couldn't ignore the heavy feeling in my stomach._

 _"_ _What are you going to do now?" The question was out of my mouth before I could think about it._

 _Her eyebrows furrowed. "What I'm going to do now?"_

 _"_ _Uh, I mean, if I'm going to do this again…" I gestured vaguely at the whole kitchen. "What are you going to do?" Then I spoke quickly, "Because if you don't have anything else to do, you could help."_

 _Her face brightened, before she quickly hid her hope again. "Brock, you don't have to-"_

 _"_ _We could do this together," I interrupted her. "It's a big household, it's easier to take care of it if we would do it together."_

 _"_ _Brock…" she whispered. I smiled at her, and she beamed at me._

 _"_ _So… together?" I offered again, and she nodded. My smile widened, and suddenly I felt a lot lighter._

 _I nodded. "Together." A moment of consideration. "But I still do the cooking."_

 _Mom laughed and then she was hugging me, a strange and familiar feeling. "Of course, my boy, of course." I hesitated for a moment longer, and then I wrapped my arms around her._

 _"_ _I missed you, Mom."_

 _"_ _I missed you, too, Brock."_

Of course that emotional moment hadn't meant it had gone smoothly from then on, but things had definitely improved.

So when Mom patted my knee and complimented me, it was easy to smile back gratefully. Before I could give her any more of a response, Ash's beaming face appeared front center in my sight.

"You did awesome, Brock!" He grabbed my shoulders and gave me a congratulatory shaking. "They were asking really difficult questions and you knew it all!"

"Pika!" the Pokémon on his shoulder agreed.

"Ah, yeah, thanks, Ash." I wondered if he had realized the purpose of the questions and the answers – that is, defending my thesis – but then decided that it didn't really matter. "Did you like it?"

"Of course he did," Gary butted in after appearing out of nowhere. "It was about Pokémon."

Ash looked offended. "I care about other things than just Pokémon!"

"Food?" Leaf offered dryly, as she too joined in the boys in crowding me. I got up from my chair to make conversation easier, because it would undoubtedly take some time for the PhD committee to reach a decision.

"And me, of course." Misty walked up to us and wrapped an arm around Ash, grinning predatorily at him. "Don't you, Ash?"

"Y-y-yes," he stuttered, managing to look both embarrassed and afraid.

Misty's threatening's demeanor disappeared and she beamed. Ash grinned and put an arm around her shoulders. At that sight, pride surged through me and I had to stop myself from grinning too widely.

"Aww, how sweet," Gary mocked, and Ash glared at him but Gary just grinned and held up his hands in defeat, before copying Ash by snaking an arm around Leaf's waist. The girl raised her eyebrows and for a moment it seemed as if she wanted to push him away, but then her face relaxed in a smile and she leaned against him.

At that, I was unable to fight my grin any longer. "You are both so cute."

"Brock…" Misty said in a low voice, her eyes narrowed, but Gary just barked a laugh.

"We know," he said cockily.

"How long is it going to take?" Ash asked, either by coincidence or by his own design dispelling an impending fight.

"Long," Leaf, Gary, Misty and I chorused, and Ash hung his head. Pikachu chortled in amusement.

I chuckled as well, before turning to a bit more serious subject. "Thank you for coming here, I'm really happy you wanted to come."

"Of course, Brock," Misty said without a hint of teasing in her voice.

"We wanted to see what you've been working on all those months, even if we don't understand it all," Ash added.

Misty couldn't resist. "Are you sure it wasn't just you?"

"Yes!" Ash replied instantly with fire in his eyes, and seemed to want to say more, but when Misty smiled charmingly and told him she was joking, he relaxed and pulled her close again.

Ah yeah, they were cute.

"But anyway, I'm really happy you guys came," I repeated, also giving Gary and Leaf an appreciative smile.

"It was very interesting," Leaf said seriously, and Gary nodded.

"Really a lot of people came," Ash remarked, and I had to agree with him. News of my research had gotten out and many interested scientists and other scholars had come, plus of course my extended family, Lucy, some friends from school and Ash, Misty, Leaf and Gary. Those guests I had expected, but there were also several unexpected though welcome faces in the crowd.

Crowd… Yes, it was actually a crowd, and that hadn't helped my nerves any. It still made me nervous, even with my presentation over and done, because all these people… What if I failed?

"Brock?" Leaf asked, and I was pulled back into reality.

"Oh sorry, yes, what were you saying?"

"Just that a lot of people came all the way to Kanto to see you," she said, and I knew she was right.

"Yes, I should go thank them…" I said, more to myself than to the others.

"Good idea," Gary said, and then promptly shouted to the small crowd, "Hey people, Brock wants to thank you for coming!"

The small audience, which had been engaged in their own conversations, now turned their attention to Gary and me, and a cheer and applause went up. I flushed, suddenly not knowing where to look with all those people's eyes on me.

I caught Lucy's eye and she beamed at me, which only made my cheeks burn more.

"I meant personally," I hissed at Gary when the noise died down, but the boy just grinned in response as he clapped my shoulder.

"You deserved that, Brocko."

I let out a theatrical sigh before smiling and clapping him on the shoulder as well, perhaps with a bit more force than needed. After that, I excused myself, because I did actually need to thank some of my visitors who had come from far.

I walked past the first row, which was filled with my siblings, then slid in a free chair on the second row.

"My guests of honor," I greeted my three friends from Sinnoh, and Reggie, Dawn and Paul looked up from their conversation. Okay, _Dawn and Reggie_ looked up from their conversation, Paul had just been sitting there as talkative as a stone.

"Brock!" Dawn exclaimed, jumped up and wrestled her way past Paul and Reggie to throw her arms around my neck and squeeze me to death. "That was amazing! You explained it so well, and it's so cool that the experiment was such a success!"

Dawn pulled away and much needed oxygen rushed in my lungs. "Thanks," I croaked.

Dawn beamed. "You're welcome. Though, really, you should thank Weavile and Buneary and Bun-Bun."

Surprisingly, Paul actually decided to make a comment. "It's a boy and you keep calling him Bun-Bun…" His exasperated tone told me they had had this discussion before.

"It's his name! I didn't know he was a boy when I named him…" Dawn countered weakly, and she sounded like she already knew how this discussion was going to end.

"We had agreed on Bun," Paul said, though he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. "He will never listen to his new name if you keep using his old one."

"I know…" Dawn pouted. "But it's such a habit, and I _like_ Bun-Bun…"

"It's not a boy's name." I had to agree with Paul, Bun-Bun wasn't very manly. I bet Paul would've wanted to call the Pokémon Dynamite or something like that.

"But, but…" Dawn's face brightened. "It does sound a bit like Punch-Punch, doesn't it? That's manly!"

Paul groaned, but Dawn was beaming and wriggled her way past Reggie again to land on Paul's lap. They continued their squabble, though now it seemed like Paul was on the losing side.

I blinked in confusion, and when I looked at Reggie for clarification, he only shrugged in response.

"They've been like that for a while." He grinned, then leaned closer to me. "Nothing official yet, but well…" He trailed off and glanced at Paul and Dawn again, and I knew what he meant.

"They're… surprisingly cute," I said, and Reggie nodded, still grinning. There was a touch of mischievousness to that grin, and I suspected that Paul had had to suffer some teasing already.

"But anyway," I said, turning my attention away from the couple to be. "I didn't come here to discuss Dawn and Paul's romance, I came here to thank you."

"Oh Brock, you really don't-"

I ignored him. "No, I mean it, Reggie, if you hadn't helped me, this research never could've happened. You put so much time-"

"They paid me!" He laughed.

"Well, yeah, but you still did it, even with all the other work you had to do-"

"I liked doing it, it was very interesting to raise the Buneary-"

I laughed. "Stop interrupting me! Let me finish my sentence!"

Reggie laughed as well. "Ah, sorry, please continue."

I cleared my throat. "Right. So…" I faltered, a sheepish grin forming on my face. "Thank you for all your help."

Reggie grinned. "It was not a problem, Brock. It was a win-win situation for both of us."

I had to admit to that. I had needed a place to do my research on the influence of the biologic parents on the development of baby Pokémon, and Reggie and his Breeding Center needed the money. The results were perplexing and better than any of us had anticipated. Pokémon raised by both of their parents came out on top, followed by Pokémon raised by one parent or adoptive parents, and Pokémon raised by humans ended last.

It turned out to be such a great development that even the press took interest in it, and Reggie and his Breeding center profited quite a bit from that. As for me, the media attention secured more finances, and the university had offered me a job – though I'd like to think so that even if it hadn't been such a success, they still would've wanted me – and I was allowed to continue my research.

"It definitely was," I agreed with Reggie with a grin. When I moved to get up and leave, this caught Dawn's attention again. Before she could protest, I quickly spoke.

"Don't worry, we'll speak more afterwards. Thank you, Dawn, thank you, Paul, for your help and for coming here." I bobbed my head and Dawn beamed, while Paul just nodded shortly.

I had just moved out of the chair and was considering who I would talk to now, when I heard a familiar screech and jumped in reflex.

"Twerp!"

I whirled around and came face to face with the former Rockets.

"Er, I mean, Brock," Jessie corrected herself and smiled sweetly, but after so many years of misguiding smiles and evil laughs, even that sweet smile seemed threatening. But I was quick to recover and grinned at them.

"Hello! What a surprise!" And it really was, because _what the heck_ were they doing so far from Kalos?

As if he had heard my thoughts, Meowth said, "Ya did so much for us, we thought we'd come support ya."

"Yeah, and we wanted to see Kanto again-" James said, before Meowth elbowed him in the shin. "Ouch!"

"And we came to tell ya about what da little twerp said!" he attempted to cover up James's slip-up, badly. It sufficiently distracted me, though, for the moment.

"Little twerp?"

"That one from Kalos," James clarified, still rubbing his shin. "The blond one. Bonnie."

"Bonnie? What did she say, then?"

Jessie frowned. "Something about… It was strange… Something about 'it's working?'"

"Yeah, those were her exacts words." James nodded with a thoughtful nod. "It's working."

"It's working… Are you sure Bonnie-" Then it clicked. "Oh, right, it's working." I nodded in satisfaction. Clemont and Serena must be getting closer. "Good."

The trio looked at me expectantly, but I had other things on my mind.

"Why did you come to Kanto?"

James, forever naïve, answered without hesitating, "We came here to look for-"

This time it was Jessie who cut him off, jabbing a sharp elbow in his side. "Ow!"

"He isn't supposed to know that!" his wife scolded, and James whimpered.

Meowth grinned innocently at me. "We came here just for ya," he assured me, but I just raised my eyebrows.

"But, but," James defended himself, clutching his side. "The twerp isn't going to tell the Boss."

 _The Boss? What…_ "Uh, no, no, I'm not going to tell Giovanni," I quickly said, now completely thrown off. "Whatever it is."

Jessie shared a look with James and Meowth, then sighed and rested a hand on her very pregnant belly. "We want to move back to Kanto."

"Kalos is nice, but… it isn't home," James added, and Meowth nodded in agreement.

"We want to raise the little one here…" Jessie said with a wishful sigh.

"And if Giovanni found out…" I prompted.

Meowth chuckled. "He wouldna like hearing 'bout his best agents leaving Team Rocket."

James was more serious in his response. "You don't just resign from an organization like Team Rocket. You're in for life, or…"

That seemed a bit over the top, but I kept my thoughts to myself. They undoubtedly knew the criminal world better than I did. Still, over the past years, the influence of the criminal organization had been declining, and I voiced these thoughts.

"But isn't Team Rocket almost done for?"

James choked on air and Jessie looked highly offended.

"Done for?! Team Rocket? Never!"

"We will stand strong and we will persevere!" James punched his fist in the air and struck a pose.

Only Meowth seemed to remember their new situation. "But we ain't part of Team Rocket anymore!"

James promptly dropped his pose, and Jessie momentarily seemed to falter before she regained her energy with a new realization. "That's right! That must be why Team Rocket is faltering!"

James looked up, a hesitant hope in his eyes. "That-that's good, right?" When Jessie grinned in response James continued with more confidence, "Yeah, that's good! We won't have anything to fear from the Boss, then!"

Meowth was the only one who still looked unconvinced. While James and Jessie enthusiastically talked about their newfound safety, Meowth gave me a look. I squatted down to be eye to eye to him, a reassuring smile on my face.

"Really, Meowth," I said before he could speak. "I don't think you have much to worry about. It's really true, Team Rocket is not nearly as strong as it used to be." Plus, these three had never been top agents, in fact quite the opposite, so I doubted Giovanni would mourn their loss.

"Really," I said again and patted his shoulder. Then, finally, he grinned, but just as he wanted to say something, he was pulled up in the air by James.

"Now we can really be one big family!" he said happily, one arm around Jessie and the other squeezing Meowth tight. After the Pokémon had managed to get in a better position – a position in which he could breathe – he seemed happy enough, and I felt that this was my cue to leave.

"Right," I said, laughing and getting up again. "Thank you for coming, and I'll just…" I trailed off, the three of them no longer paying any attention to me. Shaking my head I left them and I looked around for other familiar faces, but halted when my eyes fell on the door the committee had disappeared through. My nervousness returned in full force. It wasn't taking long, was it? No, no, it hadn't been that long yet…

I was pulled out of my thoughts when some friends from school called me over, and I spent several minutes talking with them. They had enjoyed it so far, and coming from them, I could finally start to believe it. My family members and friends all meant well, but they had very little knowledge on the actual content.

"Brock! Hey, Brock!" The sound of a familiar voice pulled me out of the conversation and I looked around to find the owner.

"Leave him be, May, he's talking!" I heard another familiar voice respond, and a smile appeared on my face when I saw the Maple siblings, followed by a certain green-haired Coordinator.

"We came all the way to Kanto for him, the least he-" May cut herself off when she saw me looking at them and she enthusiastically waved. "Brock!"

I quickly said my goodbyes to my fellow students, and then made my way to my friends. May was very enthusiastic in her greeting, taking a leaf from Dawn's book by enveloping me in a hug, while Drew and Max just greeted me with a polite nod, as we men tend to do.

"I had already been looking for you," I half-apologized. "Thank you so much for coming-"

May cut me off. "Don't worry about it, it's really cool that you're actually going to become a doctor!"

"Hopefully, anyway," Max added, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Though so far I have to say I haven't been able to find any holes in your work."

Max had wanted to read the whole paper, had wanted to see my research, and though he already told me before that my reasoning was sound, it was nice to hear it again. Max wasn't one to hold back when he judged things seriously. He would make a fine researcher one day, if he ever put his mind to it. For now, he had his eye on his father's Gym Leader position.

I puffed out my chest. "I'm glad you thought so, thank you."

"Was it very difficult to do?" May asked eagerly, and Drew watched her curiously. "It was very interesting to read, though you did use some terms I had to look up-"

"You read it? All of it?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice.

"Why is everyone so surprised about that?" May sounded a bit offended – and perhaps rightfully so – though the smile stayed on her face. "Yes, I read it, all of it, and it was good, in my opinion. I especially liked the part in which you hypothesized about the cause of the differences in the results."

"I- wow, May, I never knew you had such an interest in academic stuff," I said, still dealing with this new development. Max grinned in pride, and Drew quickly glanced at me, before turning his eyes back to May.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging and blushing a bit. "Drew and I had been talking about the future-"

I choked, and May looked at me worriedly. "You okay, Brock?"

"Future?" I croaked. "Not marriage again, right?"

"No!" the three of them exclaimed simultaneously.

"Oh, okay." I breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling stupid for considering it. "Phew." I grinned sheepishly. "But continue, you were talking about the future?"

May seemed to hesitate, glancing at Drew, who smiled encouragingly at her.

"Yeah, the future," she said, seeming to regain her confidence. "I've been thinking about going to university, when, you know… later." Her eyes were wide, expectant, and almost fearful as she waited for my reaction.

"Wow… May, that's… good for you! I never knew… But that's a great idea. It's really fun." I gave her a thumbs up. May seemed to deflate in relief, and Drew put an arm around her. She beamed at him.

"Told you." He smirked.

I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"

"May thought that people would laugh at her," Max explained, his tone telling me he found that a ridiculous notion.

May's cheeks turned pink and Drew squeezed her shoulders.

"We both told her she didn't need to worry about that," Drew said, flipping his hair, "But she didn't believe us."

Shaking my head slightly, I grinned at her. "Oh May…"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, a sheepish smile on her face. "I _know_ …"

"Good." I patted her head, and she stuck out her tongue. Max rolled his eyes at her childish gesture but Drew chuckled. May smiled at her boyfriend, and then the two of them seemed lost in each other's eyes. Long moments passed…

"Bleh!" Max made a gagging sound. Though Drew and May didn't let go of the other, they did seem to remember there were other people in the room. May seemed to want to say something to Max, but I interrupted her.

"I have to agree," I said with a chuckle. "You two are disgustingly cute."

"Brock!" May whined at my siding with her brother – who nodded in satisfaction – but Drew just smirked and pulled her closer.

Behind them, I noticed another couple of familiar faces, and I decided this was a good moment to wrap things up.

"Well guys, I'm off again, but thank you so much for coming." I grinned brightly at the couple and their frowning third wheel.

"Not a problem, Brock!" May happily replied, and Drew nodded with a smile. Max nodded as well, though he looked more hesitant. I raised my hand in goodbye and was about to leave-

"Wait, Brock!" Max quickly dashed to my side. "I'm coming with you!" He pulled a face as he looked to his sister and her boyfriend. "I don't want to be left alone with those two!"

May rolled her eyes at her brother's antics, before turning her attention to me. "We'll see you later, Brock. Be good," she added with a look at Max. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, and with that, Max and I left the couple on their own.

We met up with Tracey, Daisy, Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak – it was quite an honor that he had come to my thesis presentation – and we made some small talk. I watched Daisy and realized that while she was still attractive, there was no way to deny that, I felt no need to go down on my knees and beg for a date. _I prefer dark hair, anyway_ , I thought to myself with a smile.

Gary and Leaf joined us, and now Max grew even more enthusiastic. He had already been excited when he got the opportunity to talk to the great Professor Oak, but now that his grandson also joined in the discussion, there was no stopping him.

My thoughts wandered and I looked back at the door that lead to the room in which the committee was still discussing my fate. The front row was still filled with my siblings, though several of them had taken the liberty to start climbing on other chairs and running around. Dad was fruitlessly trying to get them in hand.

Ash and Misty were also still standing where I had left them, now engaged in a conversation with Mom and Lucy. Next to them I noticed two familiar faces, politely smiling but not very comfortable as they pretended to be interested in a conversation with people they barely knew.

I quickly excused myself from the academic conversation and Max didn't follow me as I walked back to the front row. Cilan noticed me coming from the corner of his eye and he turned to face me, a relieved smile on his face. He nudged Iris, who turned and then grinned widely at me, relief in her eyes as well.

"Hello my foreign friends," I greeted them with a grin. "I have come to rescue you from an uncomfortable conversation with my mother and girlfriend."

"Oh, it wasn't uncomfortable," Cilan assured me, eyes wide as he glanced at said mother and girlfriend. Lucy and Mom were fortunately still engrossed in their conversation with Ash and Misty, and I heard my name mentioned a few times – I sure hoped they weren't telling any embarrassing stories, but their smiles were decidedly evil…

I shot them a glare, but none of them noticed, and with an internal sigh of resignation I turned back to the two Unovians.

"Sure it wasn't," I agreed easily with the Connoisseur, my tone telling them the opposite and Iris smiled wanly in response. I grinned at her, then decided to let it go. "But anyway, I came here to thank you for actually coming all the way from Unova for just this…"

"Oh, it's not a problem," Cilan said, at the same time as Iris grumbled, "Yeah, and was it a long way…"

"Iris!" Cilan sounded scandalized, but I just laughed. Iris's honesty was as always refreshing.

"Yeah, undoubtedly it was a long way." I chuckled. "I'm sorry. Did you have any trouble underway?"

"No, not trouble, we just took a detour…" She glared lightly at Cilan, who looked somewhat embarrassed.

"It was just a small detour," he defended himself. "I was just…"

"Distracted?" Iris offered, eyes sparkling. She turned to me. "He forgot to wake me when we were at the station we were supposed to get out, because he was too busy ogling the train."

Cilan scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly in a decidedly Ash-like manner. "We got out at the end-of-the-line."

"Ouch," I said, laughing a bit.

"Yeah." Iris laughed. "We did get to enjoy the sights of Kanto, as we had already planned before."

"A mini-vacation?" I asked, and both of them nodded.

"No offense, Brock, but to come to Kanto for just one evening would be quite a waste…" Cilan said carefully.

"None taken." I chuckled again. Cilan and I had kept in touch these months, so I knew his and Iris's relationship was still going strong. He had insisted on coming, claiming that he wouldn't want to miss a friend's important evening. Now that I had heard about the trains, I suspected he had had a higher purpose to go on this trip.

"So we came here by train, and we'll leave by foot," Iris explained, and I could see their compromise in that. They were as different as night and day – if you'll excuse my bad metaphor – but it was wonderful that they were managing to make their relationship work.

"You're going to walk all the way to Unova?" I questioned in disbelief.

"No, no." Cilan laughed. "Just to the Dragon's Den in Johto, and from Blackthorn City we'll take the plane."

That made more sense, and I nodded. "I'm still very glad that you two managed to come."

"Afterwards there was a party, wasn't there?" Iris asked with a cheeky smile.

My gaze darted to the fateful door and my inwards squeezed uncomfortably, but I grinned at my guests anyway. "Definitely!" It didn't come out as confident as I had intended, and Cilan easily caught it.

"You need not to worry, Brock," he said. "Your presentation was a perfect blend of humor and knowledge."

"Thanks." My lips quirked upwards in a sad attempt at a smile. The committee was taking long…

Iris smiled sympathetically. "They can't _not_ pass you! They already offered you a job, didn't they? And the media wouldn't stand for it."

I almost cringed at her reminder of the media. At first, I had liked the attention – admittedly, I still quite liked it – and the money and acknowledgement that came with it, but if I failed now… They weren't present here, inside, because it was for friends and family and other interested parties only, but outside they were waiting, waiting, waiting, like predators on their prey-

"Brock, are you feeling well?" Cilan's concern pulled me out of my panicked thoughts, and I let out a breath.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, just… nervous."

Unexpectedly, an arm was swung around my neck as someone came up at me from behind. "You're going to pass, Brocko!" Ash's voice was loud in my ear and I cringed. He smiled sheepishly at that, and I couldn't help but grin back.

On my other side, Misty also put her arm around shoulder. "Exactly, you got this."

"Thanks, guys," I said in a choked voice, feeling oddly emotional all of sudden. Rationally, I knew the odds of passing were very much in my favor, but still…

"Ah, is my boy still unsure of himself?" Ash and Misty let go of me at my father's voice, and a moment later a tanned, muscular arm took the free spot on my shoulders and Dad squeezed me tight.

"Oh, don't you worry, Brock, there's no way they won't let you pass," Mom added, reaching up to ruffle my hair before going to stand on Dad's other side. My siblings then joined Dad in squeezing me to death, and my friends just stood there and didn't do anything, except smile as if watching me being tortured by my family was amusing. Traitors.

Then, as if by magic, all of them just let go of me. I gratefully fully filled my lungs with fresh oxygen, then glanced at my side to smile at my rescuer. Lucy smiled back at me and took my hand in hers. She looked completely calm and at ease, and finally I felt myself relax. I would pass, of course I would-

The door opened.

Oh Arceus. The PhD committee walked back on stage and suddenly my nervousness was back in full force.

"Mr. Harrison?" Dr. Mendoza asked, and I gulped. Lucy gave my hand a last squeeze and smiled at me, before she let go. More people patted me on my back or touched my arm reassuringly as I left my group of family and friends, but my legs still felt wobbly as I ascended the stage.

The audience quickly shuffled back to their places and silence fell over them when I took my place next to the committee. As soon as the audience had fallen silent, all expectant eyes and encouraging smiles, Dr. Mendoza spoke.

"After a long and thorough discussion-" At this, the woman nodded to the other two members of the committee with a smile. "-we have reached a decision."

Caterpie were crawling in my stomach and I squeezed my hands together. I attempted to keep up my polite smile, but I felt beads of sweat forming on my forehead.

"Mr. Brock Harrison…" Dr. Mendoza said, looking me in the eye as she allowed the moment to drag on purely for her own evil dramatic purposes. Then, finally, a smile broke through her poker face. "Congratulations, we are happy to announce that you have passed!" She had to yell the last part to be heard over the cheer of the crowd, who had already started celebrating at the first word of her sentence.

For one moment, I could only dumbly stare at her, glancing at the other committee members who just smiled at me, and then her words hit home and a wide grin formed on my face.

"Congratulations," Dr. Mendoza said, offering her hand which I gladly shook, beaming at her in a not very professional way. The other two women offered their congratulations as well, and still all I could do was grin speechlessly.

The applause and cheers died down a bit, and Dr. Mendoza took this moment to say a few last words.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming this evening." Her smile widened and she stepped aside with a flourish. "May I present to you… doctor Brock Harrison!"

The cheers and applause almost blew me away, and I grinned at the audience, my eyes easily finding the familiar faces.

Dawn was beaming, as were May, Mrs. Ketchum and Mom, the latter two appearing teary-eyed. Reggie gave me a thumbs up, Drew flipped his hair with a smile and Meowth whistled in a loud and high-pitched way. Max had a satisfied smile on his face, Ash and Misty were cheering loudly, and even Paul seemed to be slightly smiling. Leaf nodded at me with a smile as she clapped, and Tracey punched a fist in the air.

Cilan appeared to be saying something to Iris as he clapped and smiled, probably complimenting me by comparing me to food, and when she rolled her eyes with a grin that only strengthened my suspicion. Jessie and James stood close to each other, smiling widely, and Gary and Professor Oak seemed to be already discussing something as they clapped. My brothers and sisters were cheering the loudest of everyone, and Dad was grinning widely in pride. Lastly I looked at Lucy and held her gaze, the wide smile on her face lifting me up even higher.

Slowly, the applause died down, and it seemed as if they were waiting for me to say something.

"Thank you," I said, but it came out hoarse and quietly. A few laughs went up, and I grinned. Nothing could ruin this moment. I cleared my throat and my confidence grew.

"Thank you," I said again, and this time it came out loud and clear. I took the time to look all of my friends and family in the eye, my gaze lingering on the front row with my family and Lucy. "Thank you. Thank you, all of you. You've supported me all, in some way or the other, not only with my study, but also with everything else happening in my life."

I looked at Mom and Dad, now both teary-eyed, and my siblings, who were smiling and grinning and seemed to be ready to burst out in another cheer, and then at Lucy, who simply beamed. Time to wrap this up, I decided. "And so I can only say _thank you_."

Loud cheers and applause filled the room again, and with a flourish bow and wide grin, I left the stage, into the welcoming arms of my family and friends and my sweet girlfriend.

The end.

* * *

 **A/N:** I can't believe it… It's actually really over… This was the last chapter… Wow, that's a really strange feeling haha. Brock's tale is finally over, after so many years and so many hours of writing. I'm happy, because this is what I've been working towards all that time (okay, maybe not _this_ exactly, because when I started I definitely didn't have an ending in mind), but I'm also kind of sad, because Brock's story has been at my side for so long and now I have to let it go… But, it's done, and I'm happy and proud of what it has become.

And seriously, this story couldn't have been done without you, my faithful readers and reviewers. You kept me going by simply reading or leaving reviews or alerts or favorites, and you gave many helpful tips and pointers and I'm really, really happy that I've been able to make this journey with you. Thank you so, so, so incredibly much for everything. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did, and it would make me very happy if you would please leave me one last review ;)

Last thing: this story might be finished, but I'm nowhere near done writing yet. Besides a rewrite for _Leave It To Brocko_ and this story, which might or might not happen depending on the time and energy I have haha, my next step is completing my WishfulShipping story _Tomboy_. So, for those interested in that one, there will be a new chapter up next week :)

Once again, thank you, thank you, and thank you! I wish you the best, and hopefully I'll see you around!

 **Recommendations:**

 **Pokémon:** _Hopeless_ by _CookiesNCreamNess_. **FFN.** Okay, this is just a really silly, really funny, kind of a parody but not quite, one-shot about May and Drew and their relationship, with Dawn being helpful and some hints of IkariShipping as well. Good for a laugh!

 **Pokémon:** _Impossible_ by _KissyFishy_. **FFN.** IkariShipping! Sadly unfinished so far, but a great multi-chapter about how Paul is challenged to win over Dawn. The writing is hilarious and the story is great, with a right dose of seriousness among the humor. Definitely recommended!

 **Harry Potter:** _Children of the Future_ by _Alohaemora_. **FFN.** A short but beautiful story about the children of the next generation in the Harry Potter world. Definitely worth a read, and it doesn't even cost that much time ;)

The list of recommendations will continue in my other stories, so recommendations are still very welcome!


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